The Game
by brycewhite
Summary: Chosen to be the pawn in a serial killer's sick game, just how much will Danny be able to take before the stress of the case, and his ex-wife's latest fight to gain full custody of his daughter, pushes him over the edge? Warnings for language/nasty whump. Gen fic. (see fic for further notes)
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! This story is set roughly from around S1/ep16 to S2/ep15, and includes big spoilers for **_**E Malama**_** and the S2 ep **_**Mai Ka Wa Kahiko,**_** and a few spoilers of the eps in between.**

**The character Dr Gabrielle Asano doesn't feature at all (in my fic, Danny never hooked up just because), and neither does Jenna Kaye nor Lori Weston (sorry).**

**It's a GEN case-fic, with lots of emotional/physical whump (and poor Danny is the focus of all that, although I'm not kind to the rest of the team either - I'm just that mean ;p), and must include the warnings for bad language and some pretty nasty whumping. Lots of crime drama's such as Criminal Minds helped me with the inspiration in this.**

**Haven't a clue when Danny's birthday is (don't think it's ever been disclosed), so for the sake of this fic, I decided July :D. I've also never been to Hawaii, so, many apologies if my online research about the beautiful State is off, and same for any medical blunders I wrote (not a doctor either).**

**I have to mention my son here too, because he has this **_**amazing**_** imagination that helped me when my muse ended up backed against a wall and refused to play ball... so lots of hugs and kisses, kiddo!**

**Anyway, on with the fic... hope you enjoy :o) Bryce x  
**

**The Game.**

_He couldn't get his damned cell to work, kept pressing the answer button over and over until his thumb suddenly melted onto the screen in swirls of red and capital letters that, rearranged, spelled IGNORE._

_He could still hear Grace's frightened screams, tinny and sharp, and shouted at the cell stuck to his hand... "Hold on, baby, Daddy's coming..."_

"_You have a tone. If I have a face, well, you have a tone, Danno."_

"_What the fuck?" But when he glanced about up expecting to see his annoying partner, Step-Stan was there instead, with a handful of tapes that quickly morphed into a smoking gun... _

_...and when Danny looked at the cell in his hand again, he saw his shield instead, black ribbon striped across it, and he was suddenly standing by the side of a child size coffin..._

Gasping awake, Danny gripped at his bare chest and desperately tried to get his breathing under control. His legs were tangled in his sheet and he fought to free them, cursing as tears and sweat stung his eyes. After a moment struggling, he slumped back and stilled in the darkness, still pricking with the vestiges of fear induced terrors, and made himself say out loud, "Grace is fine, Grace is safe, Grace is alive," until the prickling stopped and he was left wondering how the hell this had become his life.

Since he moved away from his home and family in New Jersey, to a shitty little lonely craphole of an apartment in Oahu, Danny had decided that sleep had rapidly become overrated.

What was it that Shakespeare had said? _To sleep, perchance to dream_? Well, the _dreams_ that relentlessly plagued him since he joined a task force, where he was constantly shot at/chased/beaten up on a weekly basis, and drove him nearly to the brink of insanity, sometimes made Danny almost wish he could shuffle off this mortal coil.

_Almost_ wish... though he knew he never willingly would. And that was because he had his daughter, someone he'd dragged his ass nearly five thousand miles across the US to be near because he loved her more than life itself. He was a father and took the responsibility to raise his baby girl and keep her safe very seriously. It was his job. He could never leave Grace, she was his absolute everything.

And that's kept him going...

Eventually the pressing need of his bladder overtook the desire to just lay back and stare blindly at the ceiling fan that was so old it barely cooled him, and Danny roughly scrubbed his hands over his face and finally pushed himself up on the sofa bed. It wasn't quite five AM yet, but he was sticky with drying sweat and wide awake, had been for the last hour, unable to sleep as he relived the lingering taunts of his nightmare over and over.

Dragging his aching body finally out of bed, he half stumbled into his small bathroom, squinting at the glare of the harsh, unforgiving strip light above his sink. Jesus, he looked a mess, like death barely warmed over. Ignoring the mirror, he closed his eyes and blindly turned to the toilet, relieving himself with a sigh, one hand firmly on the wall supporting his balance.

The terrifying voicemail of his ex-wife and his baby girl being carjacked screamed in his head again, and his eyes snapped open with a gasp.

"Fuck," he hissed, feeling a warm splash on his feet. He grimaced, yanked his shorts off and switched on the shower, setting the temperature to cool.

It had been weeks since that incident had happened, since some lowlife motherfucker had pulled out a gun and terrorised his daughter, but the memory was still too fresh, still too raw, and the nightmare – always the same, over and over again - lurked around the edge of his sleep, waiting for him to close his eyes before it gripped him in its terrifying claws, latched on and dragged him under, and refused to let go.

Danny could still vividly remember how his life had literally exploded into white blind panic when he heard the voicemail, remembered how much he'd wanted to kill Stan, beat him to a bloody pulp when he learned that it was him that had put Grace in danger through his stupid and thoughtless actions. And he hated the fact that Stan had seemed so oblivious to the consequences of what he'd done, that the risks he'd taken could've gotten his family killed.

Jesus Christ! What had the idiot been thinking? His daughter had been terrorised and had a gun pointed at her, and it was all Stan's fault!

The intense crushing ache in his chest had nearly suffocated him when Stan finally told Danny everything, about Bruce Hoffman, (an apparent corrupt housing commissioner), and a certain set of taped recordings, and Danny did the only thing he could. He demanded the tapes, and made the problem go away for Stan, for the sake and safety of his daughter.

Slamming the housing commissioner up against a set of kitchen shelves while he informed him that _he, Detective Danny Williams_, and not Stan Edwards, had the tapes now, and imprinting his badge number on the bastards forehead just in case he forgot his name, along with a very serious threat to _never_ go near his daughter again, had only been marginally cathartic.

His chest still tightened as if in a steel vice every time he thought about it.

One thing out of the whole mess though, was that he and Stan had a new understanding of each other, and since then, contact between him and his ex-wife had been almost amicable.

Staring at himself in the mirror, Danny did regret having to leave his team to deal with a missing high profile witness, but a small smirk lifted one side of his mouth as he couldn't help the image of Steve, filthy and dishevelled and still smudged with camouflage paint and mud, popping into his head. The Navy SEAL might have pulled off the whole GI Joe Badass Special Forces Super Soldier thing with flare, if he hadn't been standing there with a huge goofy grin on his face when Danny had walked back into the Five-O headquarters that evening, after dropping Stan back home.

Shuddering out a deep breath, he climbed into the tiny shower and washed the vestiges of yet another bad, sleepless night away. Three minutes later, (and wouldn't Steve be surprised that he did know how to take a Navy Shower?), Danny stepped out, dried and shoved his legs into a pair of shorts, securing the support brace around his knee, (the ACL damage was healed but Danny didn't like taking chances). Sniffing an old NJSP t-shirt he found in his hamper, he decided it was still good and pulled it on as he toed into a pair of running shoes.

Steve McGarrett swam, _he_ ran. Not that Steve actually knew that, because frankly, Danny didn't know how long he'd be able to survive SuperSEAL's competitive streak before feeling an intense need to kneecap him. Running was a great way to clear his head, and since being shanghaied into being partnered with a certifiable lunatic, Danny ran simply to stay fit too, because said lunatic partner was like an energiser bunny on crack.

Grabbing his keys and pocketing his phone, he pulled door locked and left silently.

The sun was just thinking about rising when Danny hit the beach, and he picked up his pace, sprinting steadily along the sand, kicking up grains in his wake, and listening to the rolling waves drowning out the early morning bustle of city life.

For a little while the whole world just consisted of the gentle sounds of Hawaii and the rhythmic thud of his feet as he ran, and Danny emptied his mind and focussed on that.

His phone beeped thirty minutes later reminding him to return home and get ready for work.

**H-5-0**

Setting the high tech zoom lens camera to take multiple shots, the rapid fire clicks of pictures being captured suddenly filled the cab of the innocuous truck parked near Iolani Palace.

Each frame captured Detective Danny Williams perfectly.

The ex-New Jersey native, now a member of Hawaii's new elite Five-O task force, enchanted the truck's only occupant. Not the tallest of men, but his personality and character certainly made up for what he lacked in height, and always smartly dressed, even down to the tie, the Detective was proving to be a perfect choice for an opponent when the next game began, especially after researching his impressive case solving history. A worthy adversary indeed. It would be fun to see just how much it would take to break this one.

Picking up the camera again, the lens aimed towards the building, the shutter snapped quickly when a taller, dark haired man came outside to greet Danny. A smile formed on the face behind the camera.

"Ah, hello Lieutenant Commander McGarrett."

The Navy SEAL, along with the final two members of Five-O, were hopefully also going to play a vital part in The Game.

Lowering the camera, calculating eyes watched as the two men, oblivious to the surveillance, turned and headed to the Detective's car. Ten minutes after the Camaro left, so did the truck.

**H-5-0**

"I'm serious, Steve, okay?" Danny repeated, his voice high, index finger emphasising how serious he actually was. "There's gonna be no party shenanigans whatsoever! You understand me?"

Smirking, Steve threw a small glance Danny's way. It didn't matter what the man said, it was Danny's birthday at the weekend and Grace had asked her Uncle Steve if they could maybe have a party for him at his house.

Steve didn't even have to think about it.

"What is that look?" Danny demanded, eyes narrowing. "You have a look. What have you done, huh?"

Looking mildly affronted, Steve blinked and waved a hand, "I haven't done anything. I swear!"

And it was true... technically. All he'd done was give Grace and Rachel the spare key to his house for them to decorate it. He pulled the Camaro up to the coffee shop and switched off the engine.

"No, I don't believe you," Danny accused as he climbed out of the car. He leaned on the roof with both elbows and pointed at his partner. "You have that _look_!"

Closing the door, Steve shrugged innocently. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Danny."

Danny growled under his breath and watched Steve saunter into the shop. He rolled his eyes, closed his door and followed him.

"...yeah, and cocoa puffs too, thanks."

"Jesus, Steve, you eating for two and didn't tell me?" Danny smirked when he saw the order for malasadas _and_ cocoa puffs being bagged for them. The barista chuckled when Steve scowled at Danny.

"Ha-ha, very funny." He paid for the coffee and pastries and dumped the bags in Danny's arms.

Grinning, Danny followed Steve back to the car and got in. He deposited the bags on the back seat and reached for his coffee as Steve manoeuvred them back into the flow of traffic, taking a long drink and savouring the caffeine hit. It perked him up a little more and Danny could finally shake the last of the residual fatigue that fogged his mind.

The car stopped at a set of red traffic lights, and Danny waved and smiled at a pretty girl dressed in a green palm tree print bikini, holding a sign for a surf shop on the sidewalk. Steve gave him a smirk and chuckled when the girl waved enthusiastically back.

"Isn't she a little young for you, Danno?"

"Shut up," Danny growled rolling his eyes. She was too young, but she was pretty and hell, he was just as red blooded as the next man! And if she was going to stand there holding that sign looking like that, Danny was going to wave, being the friendly guy that he was.

Plus, he caught Steve checking her out, too. Pot and Kettle, anyone? The lights turned green and someone honked behind them. Danny chuckled at the embarrassed flush pinking up his partner's ears as the Camaro screeched off a little too fast.

"You not gonna dig in?" Steve asked a moment later.

"Huh?" Dig in? What?

"The malasadas and cocoa puffs. Breakfast!"

Shaking his head, Danny reached back and grabbed a bag, immediately stuffing a whole cocoa puff into his mouth. Steve grinned.

"Happy?" Danny asked chewing openly, sugar sprinkling down his front.

"Ah man, that's just disgusting!"

Laughing, Danny returned the bag to the back seat again, brushed the dusting of cocoa powder from his shirt, and drank his coffee, ignoring the slightly confused looks Steve was now giving him. Eventually though, he sighed and rolled his eyes.

"What?"

"Is that it?"

"Is what it?"

"One cocoa puff?"

What the hell was Steve talking about? Danny frowned irritated. "One cocoa puff? What about it? What're you on about?"

Sighing, Steve lowered his voice and said softly, "Danny, there's another notch on your belt."

A little thrown for a second by Steve's words, Danny stared at him. And then he chuckled, shaking his head.

"Hmm, I don't know whether to be flattered or a little bit disturbed that you've been checking out my figure, Steven," he grinned suggestively.

Steve's eyes widened and the tips of his ears pinked up again. "What?! It's not... I'm not checking out... Look, I'm just concerned is all," he sputtered.

Laughing at his friend's hilarious denial, Danny relaxed and finished his coffee. "Well, don't be. I'm fine," he promised. Hell, he'd been a cop a long time, he knew stress, even this level of stress, and he could handle a few – okay, more than his fair share – nightmares, thank you very much. Sighing to himself, Danny knew Steve would not give up though, ever. The man was insatiable; like an oversized, excited puppy begging for more doggy treats, and he turned and gave his friend an open, honest smile. "Really. Hey, it's been a rough couple of months, and I do appreciate your concern, however ambiguous it might seem-" he winked, "but seriously, I'm fine. Alright?"

Parking the car in its customary space next to Iolani Palace, Steve turned off the engine and nodded at his partner. He wasn't completely convinced that Danny was one hundred percent okay, because the paleness of his skin and dark circles under his eyes seemed to be a permanent fixture lately, and he knew dealing with the carjacking had to have left him with nightmares, but Steve couldn't rightly argue the fact that Danny was certainly not letting any of it affect his work.

Didn't stop Steve worrying though.

"Hey, if you ever need to, y'know, talk..."

Danny gaped at Steve. "Uh, no. Thanks, but I'd rather chew off my left foot," he snorted, ignoring the almost comical relieved look flitter across his partner's face. SuperSEAL? _Talk_?! Priceless!

**H-5-0**

The McGarrett Residence looked like a party bomb had exploded inside it. Streamers, balloons, banners, fairy lights decorated the place to the extreme. Steve stopped in his tracks as soon as he opened his door and actually back pedalled right back outside again.

"Oh my God," he snorted, and then laughed loudly. "Oh man, Danny, your daughter would make an awesome party planner!"

The little girl had outdone herself. His eyes tried to take in everything at once, but were quickly drawn to the huge, handmade banner that stretched along the whole of the back wall, proudly printed with "Happy Birthday, Danno!" in carefully painted letters and enhanced with glitter, feathers and sequins.

A huge smile filled Steve's face and he bravely ventured inside and closed the door. It was just beautiful. It looked like a craft store had thrown up in his living room, but the effort Grace had put into everything warmed his heart, and he knew despite his bitching, Danny would absolutely love it.

Rachel answered on the second ring when Steve called, and happily handed the phone over to Grace when he asked to speak with her. "Uncle Steve!"

"Hey, Gracie, you're not in bed are you?" he asked. It was only eight o'clock, but it was a school night.

"No, well, not technically," she said. "Mommy said I could stay up a little bit in case you called, and you did, Uncle Steve! So, what do you think? Do you like it? Do you think Danno will like it?"

Laughing at the enthusiasm in Grace's voice, Steve answered with a resounding, "Wow! It's amazing, honey! Your Danno is gonna _love_ it!"

He had to hold the cell away from his ear when Grace squealed loudly. "Oh, mommy says I have to go to bed now, but you gotta promise not to tell Danno about the party. It's a surprise, okay? Promise?"

"I promise, Gracie, cross my heart," Steve smiled listening to Danny's daughter hand the cell to her mom and skip off to bed shouting 'goodnight'.

"Thank you, Commander, for doing this for her," Rachel's voice sounded a moment later.

"No problem," Steve shrugged sincerely. Truth was he'd do just about anything for Grace.

"You do realise that Daniel might not be too enamoured with all the attention, of course," Rachel chuckled, knowing her ex husband very well.

And having been treated to numerous threats by his partner on the subject of parties, surprises and anything birthday related, Steve barked out a laugh. "Yes, but you leave that to me. The place looks great, Rachel, Danny'll love it. Trust me."

Rachel snorted, but she finished the call by telling him that she hoped the day went well, and to remind Danny to have Grace home by six PM on the Sunday.

**H-5-0**

As soon as the school bell rang, Grace grabbed her back pack and raced to the door. She was being picked up by her dad and was staying with him the whole weekend, and she was so excited! Tomorrow was his birthday, and they were going to have a party, and it was going to be the best party ever!

She'd spent _hours_ decorating Uncle Steve's house and lanai, she'd even used shells and pebbles on the beach to spell out Danno's name in the sand! She couldn't wait for her dad to see it.

Clutching her pack to her chest she trotted down the steps and right into Danny's waiting arms.

"Danno!"

"Hey Monkey," Danny smiled hugging her tightly.

"Daddy, you're squishing me," Grace giggled, squirming when Danny's finger's danced lightly over her ribs.

"Did you have a good day at school?" he asked as he took her hand and walked with her to the Camaro. She skipped along happily telling him all about her day. A few mothers waiting for their children smiled at Danny as he strolled passed them, but he only had eyes for his daughter.

"I made you something, Danno," Grace said when Danny opened the door for her. "It's for your birthday, but its okay to give it to you now 'cause I made you something else too, but that's a secret!"

Grace looked like she was dying to tell him, like the secret was desperate to burst out, and Danny smiled widely. He had the most precious little girl in the world!

"Yeah?"

She reached into her pack and pulled out a flat wrapped parcel. "I made the wrapping paper myself and I wrapped it up, too!"

Her excitement shone in her big brown eyes, and she watched eagerly as Danny took the gift like it held the crown jewels and ran his fingers over the brightly painted surface.

"Oh Monkey, this is beautiful!" he breathed reverently, meaning every word. Rainbows, flowers, seashells adorned his gift in every colour Grace could think of. He held it up and admired it. "I'll hang it up on the wall, so I can see it all the time!"

Grace rolled her eyes. "You gotta open it, silly," she laughed. Danny smiled at her before he plastered an exaggerated excited look on his face.

"There's more?"

"Daaannno!"

Hunkering down so he was level with his baby girl, Danny carefully opened the paper and peeled it back. His eyes softened when he saw the picture frame, beautifully hand decorated with tiny seashells and glitter, holding a photograph of his daughter.

For a moment, all he could do was stare at it as he held a tight rein on his emotions. This one small thing, so obviously made with love, meant more to him than anything money could buy.

"Is it okay, Danno?" Grace asked quietly, her enthusiasm dampening slightly and a touch of worry shining through. Danny pulled in a deep breath, gathered his daughter close, and held on tightly.

"Is it okay? Monkey, this is the best gift in the history of best gifts, baby." He pulled back and looked at her, "I love it, and I love you. Thank you."

"Love you too, Danno," she smiled widely again and turned to climb into the car when Danny prompted her. "I thought you could put it on your desk at work," she suggested as her dad started the engine. She pulled on her seatbelt. "That way we can sorta always be together even when we're not."

Feeling his heart swell with love for his devoted daughter, Danny leaned over and planted a kiss on her hair. "That is a great idea, Monkey!"

"Can we stop for a shave-ice?"

Danny pulled into the flow of traffic and headed towards Waiola Shave Ice, chuckling as Grace listed all the flavours she wanted to try.

**H-5-0**

The scene outside the school was so sweet that the truck parked nearby stayed longer than was necessary. The owner knew it was risky, but a perverse desire to see the Detective in every personal facet of his life outweighed the risks, to the point of becoming a little obsessive.

But that was alright as it wasn't the time for The Game to begin yet.

Grace Williams would not be used in The Game physically, but a slow smile spread over the truck driver's face at the possible idea of using the little girl to taunt the Detective.

Oh, this time The Game was going to be simply magnificent.

**H-5-0**

Danny woke up to the smell of burnt toast instead of the clawing terror of a nightmare. He slowly sat up to see Grace, still dressed in her pink nightie, standing in the small kitchenette spooning peanut butter and strawberry jelly onto the charred slices of bread, her tongue sticking out slightly in concentration, and sighed happily.

God, he loved his daughter.

Carefully pouring a glass of orange juice and only spilling a little, Grace then slowly carried her birthday breakfast over to her dad.

"Happy birthday, Danno!"

It looked about as appetising as one of Steve's beloved MREs, but Danny smiled and licked his lips much to his daughter's delight.

"You made this all by yourself?"

"I did. I was careful and didn't burn myself on the toaster, and only spilled a little," she told him proudly. "You gonna eat it?"

"Am I gonna eat it? Of course I'm gonna eat it, Monkey! You made it for me!" Taking a bite, Danny moaned appreciatively around a mouthful. "Deee-licious!"

"Yay!" Grace grinned, flung her arms around Danny and hugged him. He carefully held the plate and glass to the side and buried his face in her neck.

"Thank you," he murmured with a big smile.

"You're welcome!" She hopped off the sofa bed. "I'm gonna have my shower, and then we have to get ready and go to Uncle Steve's house, right, daddy?"

Oh, right, he'd forgotten about that. Steve had invited them over because _"If you don't wanna celebrate your birthday, Danny, at least come over with Grace for a barbeque and a couple of beers, alright?"_ But this was his weekend with his daughter and he saw Steve all the time. He had to make sure Grace was okay with that, and he cocked his head to one side and asked, "You sure you wanna do that, Gracie? We can do something else if you want."

A fleeting look of panic washed over her face before she quickly shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Of course I do. Uncle Steve has his own beach!"

And apparently that was explanation enough. Danny nodded and watched her disappear into the small bathroom, a small inkling of foreboding settling in his belly. What was that look of panic?

What was his daughter planning?

Stealthily hiding the burned toast deep in the garbage can, he cleaned up the kitchen area, marvelling how someone so small could create so much mess, and took his turn in the shower when Grace had finished.

By ten AM, after a quick warning phone call, they were on the way to Steve's.

**H-5-0**

Steve quickly moved away from the window when he saw the Camaro turn into his drive and park, and waited with a huge grin on his face. Standing still, almost at parade rest, he saw the front door finally open and winked at Grace as she scurried to his side, before they both watched as Danny shuddered to a halt just inside the house, his mouth hanging open in stunned silence.

"Oh my dear God," he breathed, his wide eyes darting over the elaborately decorated interior of his partners house. He couldn't help it, he burst out laughing.

"Do you like it, daddy? It's your surprise birthday present!"

Looking at his daughter, Danny blinked dumbly. "I'm... ah, I... I'm surprised..." Glancing up at Steve, the SEAL held up his hands and shook his head, _'Nothing to do with me!_

"You did all this for me, Monkey?" Danny asked still gobsmacked at the over abundance of glitter and streamers and balloons. It seriously looked like a clown had thrown up in Steve's house!

Beaming proudly, Grace rocked on her feet. "I did! Happy birthday, Dan-nnoooo!"

Danny gathered her up in his arms and swung her around, making her squeal in delight, with Steve watching happily from the side. It was good to see his partner happy and relaxed, and he always loved to see the way he and Grace doted on each other. Like a family should.

As soon as Danny let her go, Grace ran into the kitchen to start pulling out the trays of cupcakes she'd left in the fridge, leaving Danny standing in the room with Steve.

"You okay with this?" Steve asked quietly. Danny looked a little lost and overwhelmed. "The guys aren't gonna be here for another hour, but we can still cancel-"

"No, no, don't," Danny smiled. He shook his head again in awe. "I can't believe she did this. I can't believe _you_ let her do this... and then lied to me!"

"Hey, I didn't lie to you," Steve instantly defended. "You... didn't ask the right questions."

Scowling, Danny glared at him. "The right questions? I didn't ask-" He shook his head, smiled again and clapped his hands together. "You know what? It doesn't matter because I have the best daughter in the world and look what she did, huh!"

Steve nodded as Danny swept his arms wide around the room. He couldn't agree more.

"Thank you," Danny said quietly to his partner. "Thank you for letting her turn your home into a Princess Palace. You do know you're gonna be picking glitter out of the furniture for months, don't you?"

And when Danny left Steve looking mildly horrified and headed into the kitchen to see his Gracie lovingly arranging cupcakes on plates, he knew, as he helped himself to a mug of freshly brewed coffee, that maybe living here on a pineapple infested island might not be that bad at all. Even with the nightmares, being shot at on a weekly basis, fake tsunamis, severed heads in boxes, and an insane partner that thinks police protocol includes dumping suspects in shark cages and dangling them off rooftops...

...as long as he had his daughter and his friend's around him, Danny realised he was actually happy with his life.

Happy.

**H-5-0**


	2. the game 2

**Thank you for reading and reviewing, guys! *hugs* I hope you're still all enjoying. Bx**

**H-5-0**

_Eight months later..._

Steve walked into the Five-O headquarters with a disturbed frown etched clear on his face, and headed straight for the smart table. Danny glanced up from finalising his paperwork on the Liam Miller case as his partner stalked right past his office, without even so much as a wave, and started keying in details of what Danny recognised as an older case from the HPD archives as soon as he stopped walking.

"Hey," he nodded as he sidled up beside Steve, his hip leaning against the table. "What're you doing?" His eyes quickly followed the details as they flashed up on the screens. "Huh. This is a case from a few years back here on the islands, classified inactive because the leads went cold. Meka told me about it when he was going over a few of his unsolved files at HPD. Serial killer, started way back in the eighties..."

The harrowing graphic crime scene photographs of several young women made Danny wince and suck in a sharp breath. He remembered how Meka, his partner when he arrived in Oahu, had had this haunted look about him when he'd talked about the case. Meka had been one of the officers assigned in 2004, and it had taken him months to stop having the nightmares.

"Jesus," Danny breathed as one after another, the mutilated bodies popped up in a macabre slide show.

"Denning wants Five-O to reactivate the case," Steve said quietly, a pre-emptive move on the Governor's part. "The murders happen every four years, during July, and if the pattern holds, Oahu is next, and he doesn't want this year to be a repeat. He wants this fucker caught... _I_ want this fucker caught."

The innocent face of the last victim stared eerily at Danny from the screen, her dead blue eyes boring a hole deep in his soul and he had to look away. Thirty six victims, all women aged between seventeen and twenty-two. Danny was familiar with the details of the case, and as each name came up his mind filled in the rest.

Mary Newell. Age eighteen, student nurse, disappeared in Oahu July eighth 1988. Her body was found six days later. She was the first.

Jane McAvoy, age twenty-two, victim number two. Andrea Colton, seventeen, Teresa Maine and Kele Pali, both nineteen; victims three, four and five. But the list didn't end there. Colleen Reeves, Annabel Berry, Jenny Hu, Kiki Tate... It went on and on. Name after name of women that had disappeared from Oahu, Maui and the Big Island, only to be found dead days later. This was Hawaii's unending nightmare, the worst serial killer in their history.

Whoever had murdered these people had covered their tracks so well even the FBI hadn't been able to shed any new light on the investigations, after the case files had been passed around and studied and taken apart in minute detail by the best profilers and resources they had.

All that did was raise even more questions. One month of horrific murders, every four years, and then the killer would simply vanish without a trace.

A current profile of the Island Slasher, as dubbed by the media, although thorough, was almost a carbon copy of a text book example; male, Caucasian, slight build, aged between forty and sixty five, intelligent, sociopath, violent, no remorse, disturbed, a loner, unlikely to hold down a steady relationship, probably abused as a child at the hands of his mother or another young female adult.

With each victim, traces of chloroform were found in the lungs and around the mouth and nose, hence the possible indication that the killer was weak in strength and unable to physically subdue the women, and the tests of the victims blood showed the presence of a paralysing agent, used before torturing them to death. No prints were ever found at the dump sites or on any of the victims, so the killer was meticulous and careful. No sexual component was involved in the murders either, which suggested that the excessive use of the knife pointed towards hatred and maybe a re-enactment of revenge for something that might have happened to the killer himself. He was not afraid of blood, and over the years there had been no escalation in his planned kills, but his skill had improved suggesting a basic medical knowledge. The killer was arrogant and overconfident, making him merciless and extremely dangerous.

Of the thirty six victims, there was one survivor. Alison Du Pont. Her Oahu high school picture covered the rest of the crime scene photos on the main screen, and both Steve and Danny looked at it. She was a pretty girl with dark hair and dark eyes. She'd been the sixth and final victim from 1988, and was found left for dead with multiple stab wounds that would have been fatal if not for the fact that Alison Du Pont was actually a mirror-twin, and although rare, she was born with her internal organs on the opposite side to that of her twin sister. That miraculous fact alone was what had saved her life as the deadly thrusts of the killer's knife had missed her heart and liver, and other vital organs.

Chin and Kono walked in as Steve pulled up the medical report on Ms Du Pont, and breathed a hissed string of expletives at the sheer number of wounds inflicted on the poor girl's torso, legs and arms.

"Christ," Danny growled rubbing a hand over his mouth, "Stabbed twenty seven times."

"This a cold case, boss?" Kono asked after seeing the date on the twenty four year old file. Her curious eyes widened when she read the details. "Holy shit. This is the Island Slasher case."

With a quick patter if his fingers, Chin pulled up the last victim's file and frowned. "The Governor wants us on this doesn't he?"

"Yeah. The press is already putting the fear of God into the people of Oahu and the surrounding islands by rerunning the articles of the past murders, and reminding everyone that the Island Slasher is still out there," Steve said and turned to grab a selection of newspapers. Each one mentioned it in some form or other.

"Well, that's just fucking perfect," Danny scoffed and threw up his hands. "Sensationalising what this knife-wielding maniac has already done is only gonna encourage him even more! Every newspaper journalist should be rounded up and shot on the grounds of just being sleazy and completely mind-numbingly insensitive. I swear!"

"Agree, totally, brah," Kono nodded as she scowled hard at the small headline on page three of the Honolulu Star Advertiser. _The Island Slasher. Will Oahu be witness to Year Twenty Four?_

"Okay, we need to go over each file, talk to the officers that were involved in each investigation, and we need to find Alison Du Pont." As the only surviving witness, they definitely needed to talk to her. "Also, HPD have set up a tip hotline on the request of the Governor, and we'll have to check any and all viable leads."

A collective frown circled the table at that, because on average only one in fifty tips, if they were lucky, actually turned out to be at all helpful in any way.

They each took a handful of files and sat down, scouring the information with keen, fresh eyes, trying to see anything that jumped out, anything that could help them catch this killer before he acted again.

Three hours and two carafes of coffee later, Kono picked up another file and compared it to the one in front of her. "Hey, can I see the autopsy reports of your files?"

"You find something?" Danny asked. He handed her the papers.

"Maybe. The first five victims all had an organ removed, right?"

"Yeah, liver, pancreas, heart, stomach and spleen," Chin nodded. Danny pulled a face, yeah, he'd seen those particular autopsy photographs.

"But not the sixth victim. Each time, the sixth victim was just stabbed," Kono pointed out.

"So, what was different about them?" Steve frowned curiously.

Kono stood up and danced her fingers across the smart table. A series of images popped up on the screens and everyone leaned forward to see as she used the software to enhance them. "Each sixth victim had small scratches on their inner left wrists. None were lethal or deep."

"These were labelled as defensive injuries," Chin frowned when he checked his own report. But on closer inspection, the scratches looked too clean to be made by blunt nails. They were sharp cuts.

"True, but none of the other victims had them," Kono said. "Just the last ones each time."

"Hang on," Danny said and quickly thumbed his way through the files in front of him and then grabbed Steve's too. He looked up again, his brow furrowed in thought. The pattern reminded him a little of the simple puzzles he and Grace liked to do together.

"What is it?" Steve asked, standing when Danny did. The detective moved to the screens and pointed to the first image.

"J...N," he traced out on the girl's wrist. He held up the case file for Melia Kukua, the Slasher's eighteenth victim. "Lead officer on the case in 1996 was John Neill... J.N."

Steve narrowed his eyes at the image. The letters were crude, but now Danny had highlighted each one, he could definitely see them. J, N. John Neill. Coincidence?

The remaining Five-O team shuffled through the files and quickly matched each sixth victim with the lead investigator of that year. Steve found Alison Du Pont's medical file and found a similar scarring, with what looked like the initials I, L. Detective Ian Lawson.

"This can't be a coincidence," Chin murmured to himself, pulling up all the lead officer's names. He and stared in shock. Two had committed suicide, and the remaining four had simply disappeared. He quickly honed in on the two that had ended their own lives, and sat back down with a thump as he read the psychiatric report just before their deaths.

Unstable, suicidal, severe clinical depression, mental nervous breakdown...

Danny stood staring at the images, shaking his head and his teeth worrying his lips. He was missing something, he could feel it, but what? What was he missing?

"You okay, Danny?" Chin asked quietly when he looked up again. Danny blew out a breath.

"I don't know... There's something..." He pulled a face and turned to his team. "Every fibre of my being is telling me there's a connection _somewhere_ here," he said. "Call it a gut instinct because I'm a cop if you want, okay, but... we're missing something..."

"The victim profile is too diverse, Danny, and none are related in any way," Steve pointed out trying to help, to latch onto his partner's train of thought.

"Not just the vics, everyone involved," Danny muttered looking up again at the autopsy pictures of the women's wrists. "Just..."

"So, none of the cops involved in the investigations had any known links to any of the victims, and other than that they worked out of the same precinct, there was no familial connection either. What are you thinking, Danny?" Chin asked.

"I don't know yet, but something tells me that this-" he pointed to the screens, "looks personal to me."

After a moment, Danny turned to Steve and asked quietly, "Was your dad involved in any of these cases?" Because he knew he needed to be aware if this could get personal for Steve.

Steve shook his head. He'd already checked, and his father hadn't been a part of any of the investigations. Danny nodded and gave him a tight smile.

With this possible new lead, however small (and apparently glanced over and/or missed by the FBI), Steve stood up and blew out a breath. "Alright, I wanna know why every four years, why this particular month, and find me _anything_ that could link these lead officers," he ordered. "This bastard carved those initials onto his victims for a reason. I wanna know why. I want to be one step ahead if he strikes again."

**H-5-0**

The Game was nearly ready. The fact that Five-O would lead the investigation when it began was something the Slasher had predicted months ago, and a vicious grin twisted smug lips. The decision to start watching Williams much earlier, and far longer than any previously chosen cop, had been a good one, as the serial killer had never come across an opponent so fiercely protective of his family and friends – and using that trait against him excited the Slasher, and this time...

This time, The Game would be the Island Slasher's Legacy, and it would be remembered forever.

The first of the victims had already been chosen, a pretty blonde haired local girl that worked at the Shave Ice place on Ala Moana Beach. All that remained was the wait. The timing had to be perfect...

...and then hell would befall the island of Oahu once more.

**H-5-0**

**(**Heartfelt apologies if anyone thought I did the FBI a wrong here, but for the sake of the story, I had to have the kickass H50 team get that little clue**)**


	3. the game 3

**Hello :) Thank you all so much for the reviews! I'm pleased you're all still enjoying this :D 2 parts today as it's my son's birthday. Happy Birthday, kiddo! \o/ xx**

**Scene from **_**Mai Ka Wa Kahiko**_**.**

**H-5-0**

_The heat was stifling in the car, even with the windows down, by the time Danny pulled into the parking space at Ala Moana Beach Park, and his damp skin prickled as sweat trickled down his back. He cut the engine and let his hands fall helplessly into his lap. All he could think about was Grace and how scared she must be. Where was she? Was she okay? _

"_See that lonely little trash can there? There's a gun taped inside. You go get it and you meet Stan halfway up this path."_

_Danny looked up and saw the trash can. Saw innocent people strolling about in the park, knew that Stan would arrive soon, and felt a surge of anguish. Gun? This was Peterson's endgame? Oh God..._

"_Rick, please... ah, will you just listen to me? Just listen to me for one second, okay?" he pleaded, his voice almost begging._

"_Stop whining. Please!" Rick ordered, carrying on when Danny looked away again, "And when you get out... If just so much as look back at me... You start to run away... You deviate from anything I tell you to do, then I swear to God that little girl dies, and it's gonna be your fault!"_

_The words cut right through Danny's heart and stole his breath. No, not his Grace, _please_, not his baby girl... _

"_Why are you doing this, Rick? Why are you doing this?" he asked, eyes filling, choking out the words. "This is about you and this is about me. This is not about Grace and this not about Stan. Why are you doing this?"_

_But Rick wasn't listening to him. "I want you to pull the trigger when you see him. I want three shots centre mass. I want him dead before he hits the ground."_

_What? Kill Stan? Danny's chest seized. "I'm not gonna do it. I'm not gonna kill an innocent guy," he stated with feeling, "I'm not killing Stan, Rick. C'mon, this is insane!"_

_Grinding his teeth, Rick snapped around and snarled, "Come on! Don't tell me a little part of you doesn't wanna do this!" Danny gasped and looked away. "I heard everything. You and Rachel actually had a shot at one time, didn't you? And that little baby? Almost looked like that baby was yours."_

_And Danny hated himself because he knew what Rick was saying was exactly what he'd wanted... what he'd always wanted! But he'd had his chance and blown it, so what the hell did Rick want from him? For him to go to prison like he did?_

"_What're you... What d'you think this is gonna do, Rick?" he said brokenly, "What d'you think this is gonna do, you think I'm gonna go to prison, huh? You think I'm gonna go to prison for murder under duress?"_

"_I don't care if you go to prison," Rick snapped back instantly, "But I know Rachel's not gonna forgive you for this. So you're gonna lose the only thing that means anything to you..." And he drove the final nail in the coffin, "You're gonna lose your family. Now I've had enough talking! Get out!"_

"_Please, just tell me where Grace is," Danny tried again. He couldn't lose Grace..._

"Get out of the car, D!_" Rick screamed, stressed and flushed with anger. "Don't make me ask you again!"_

_Danny had no choice, and he climbed out of the car, glancing back just once before he reached the trash can. What the hell was he doing? He could see Stan heading towards him, and as he pulled out the gun, he knew it was either shoot him or lose Grace._

"_Hey Danny, what's going on?" Stan's worried and concerned voice drifted over to him, sounding distorted over the roaring white noise of pure fear and adrenalin in his ears. "Danny. How's Grace? She okay?"_

_Holding up his hand as he approached, Danny raised the gun, his white knuckled grip shaking around the cold, hard metal. "St-stop... Stan, listen to me..."_

_Stan stopped when he saw the gun. "What's going on, Danny?"_

"Danny!"

_He almost missed it, but Steve's yell of his name cut right through the buzz in his head, and in that second a tiny flare of salvation ignited in his heart. Danny lowered the gun and although he knew it was something Rick had said not to do, he tried to explain to Stan what was happening... giving his team the time they needed to do their thing._

"_The man inside my car," he rushed out haltingly feeling his throat close at what he had to do. "He's... he's gonna kill Grace if I don't kill you. Listen..."_

"_Danny, what-"_

"_I don't have a choice," Danny shook his head and raised the weapon again, hating the way Stan seemed to accept and trust anything Danny said. "You understand me?"_

"_For Grace?" Oh God... Stan..._

"Danny! Danny!"

_Danny could hear Steve getting closer, but he couldn't risk the SEAL stopping him doing this, couldn't risk something going wrong and losing Grace... "I don't have a choice... Sorry, sorry..." And with his heart thudding hard in his chest, he fired once, and Stan went down._

"Danny!"

_Danny fired twice more. He felt numb, his need to find his daughter the only thing keeping him going. _

_He heard Steve stop right behind him and saw the shocked stare when he turned. _

"_Danny-"_

"_He's okay," Danny quickly interrupted his partner, following as steadily as he could with, "Listen, I put one in his shoulder, the rest are in the grass, okay? Tell Rachel I'm sorry." He knew he was shaking, knew Steve could feel the tremors when his hand clutched at Steve's tac vest for a moment, but he had to hold it together, and left Stan lying writhing in pain and hurried towards Peterson, who was now securely handcuffed and being watched carefully by Chin and Kono._

_He never even noticed Rachel rush by him to get to her husband, and barely heard Steve's urgent request for a paramedic._

_Even cuffed, Rick glared defiantly at Danny as he approached, but the ex-New Jersey Detective ignored it and demanded, "Grace. Where is she?"_

_Rick raised his chin in response and stayed quiet. Danny, to the horror of Kono and Chin, lifted his weapon, put a bullet in Rick's right kneecap, and knelt by his head when the man collapsed in agony on the ground. He gripped Rick's throat, pushed the barrel of the gun against his cheek, and hissed very calmly yet menacingly, "Listen to me, you son-of-a-bitch, next one's in your head. Now tell me where my daughter is..."_

_In a blur of flashing lights and frantic driving, panic sitting on the very edge of Danny's sanity, the Camaro speeded to where Rick had hidden Grace... but when Danny finally got the storage locker door open, he didn't find his baby girl alive and unharmed..._

_...all he saw was red._

Danny snapped awake with a laboured gasp, his breath catching painfully in his dry throat. He swallowed hard and lay still in the sticky heat of the tranquil Hawaiian night, trying to slow his heartbeat as tears tracked silently down his temples and disappeared into his sweat damp hair.

His stomach rolled and cramped and Danny bolted from his bed and stumbled to the toilet, lifting the lid just in time. After a few minutes, he stopped retching and slumped to the floor, resting his forehead against the cool porcelain with a shaky sigh, repeating a breathless mantra to himself... _She's okay, she's alive... Grace is alive... Not dead. Not dead..._

Jesus Christ. Every night. _Every fucking night_ since-

He really had no idea how he was functioning on broken sleep, nightmares that woke him up shaking apart. He was barely holding it together.

But Danny shoved it all aside and climbed to his feet anyway, turned the shower to cool and stepped under the spray, wishing he could disappear down the drain with the water.

He ran after that. A punishing speed until he literally couldn't think anymore, before making his way home and then to work. It was routine, it was just about keeping him sane.

**H-5-0**

Over the next few weeks, the team worked diligently on the Island Slasher case files, alongside the weekly caseload, trying to find new insights and any connections between the victims and police officers involved. The organ's removed from the first five victims each case were assumed to have been taken as trophies. It made Kono sick thinking about that as she made the notations in her notes.

The 'trophies' had never been found.

With no real obvious connections between the victims, other than their gender and similar ages, the case was frustrating and any leads constantly went cold. Some women had been native to Hawaii, a few had been mainlanders on vacation, others simply on the islands to work, Kono simply couldn't create any semblance of a workable victim profile.

After talking with the officers involved in the investigations over the years, the harrowing details of the murders weighed heavily on Kono's mind. As a cop, it was the one thing you'd hope you'd never have to deal with, and even years after these officers had worked on them, they still bore the emotional scars.

No one could figure out the significance behind the crudely carved initials on the sixth victims, other than the fact that each of the 'named' detectives had died or disappeared, and Kono was still trying to track down Alison Du Pont, but she was proving to be difficult to find. Kono couldn't really blame her for that.

She sighed heavily and swallowed hard, trying to quash the heavy feeling of failure that she felt twisting her insides when she looked up and saw the calendar silently mocking her. July.

Steve poked his head into her office and told her to take a break when he saw her rub tiredly at her eyes, and then subtly asked for her help.

"Yeah, okay, boss," she muttered with an exhausted smile, standing up and following him curiously.

She saw Danny sitting at his desk and wondered if he'd like a coffee, but he was staring off into space... something (when he was alone and probably thought no one was looking) he'd been doing a lot since Rick Peterson, his former partner from New Jersey, had kidnapped Grace and forced Danny, at gunpoint, to shoot his ex-wife's husband, Stan.

Steve put his finger to his lips though, and silently cocked his head towards the break room. She raised her eyebrows but followed him walking nonchalantly past Danny's office and into the small room, where Kono's eyes instantly bugged out.

She laughed and stared at the _thing_ sitting innocently on the table. "You think he's gonna like that?"

Steve grinned at Kono, "Hell no, it's a _pineapple_!"

Frowning half confused and half amused, Kono looked down at the elaborately decorated birthday cake, shaped and coloured just like a pineapple, with one candle perched right on the top. "But it's his birthday. Shouldn't we be getting him something he's gonna, y'know, actually like?"

Winking, Steve leaned in and whispered theatrically, "Absolutely. That's why we got him a _chocolate_ pineapple cake."

"Oh... right," Kono laughed, shaking her head. Of course.

Today was Danny Williams' birthday, not that anyone would have guessed, though, by the way the detective had been acting lately. Ever since he'd nearly lost his daughter at the hands of his former New Jersey partner, Danny had spiralled into a depressive funk. See-sawing between a sharp, foul temper and hopeless misery, God help anyone that stepped on the wretched invisible eggshells that were almost constantly around Danny now.

Steve had tried to get the man to talk, if not to him, then to _somebody_, but Danny took his privacy extremely seriously, and insisted he was fine to the point where he'd started avoiding Steve unless it was necessary, and that unfortunately didn't include beers after work anymore. Even the usual Williams' heated rants had lessened considerably. Steve found he paradoxically missed them.

He really missed his friend.

It came to a head, eventually, when Steve threatened to take Danny off active case work pending a forced psych-eval, after he'd almost lost it whilst interrogating a suspect. Steve had actually had to physically drag his partner out of the room, he was that intent on literally beating a confession out of the scumbag. Of course, it didn't help that the suspect was a convicted paedophile, and was implicated in a missing child case.

It also didn't help that they were all so invested in the one case that had driven two seasoned police detectives to suicide.

Later that evening, after he and Danny had practically screamed at each other and very nearly come to blows in his office, Steve had insisted Danny come home with him, and when Danny had put up no resistance and just agreed, Steve had felt moment of panic as alarm bells in his head started blaring deafeningly. Danny had sounded resigned and simply ready to give up.

It was four Longboards and an hour of sullen silence, with an equally subdued Danny, later before Danny had finally started talking, telling his friend about the nightmares, the real fear of actually losing his daughter, and how the whole Peterson thing had pushed his and Rachel's already fragile relationship right back to the time they divorced, when it was acrimonious and hateful. By the time he'd finished, Steve had felt physically sick, and his heart broke for the man he considered his best friend.

Since that night, the moods in the office had lightened marginally, and Steve was determined to at least try and get a rant out of his partner, if not a smile – hence the cake, specially baked and decorated by his neighbour, the same one that had baked the dolphin cake for Grace's birthday party for her dad last year.

Steve knew this year Danny's celebration wasn't going to anywhere as elaborated as the last one, but he wasn't sure when Danny was seeing his daughter, so Steve had decided to hold a small get together in the office instead. He carefully closed the box and picked it up, motioning to the fridge as he did so.

Kono shook her head as she made room in the appliance for the huge box. She silently hoped her co-worker would see Steve's pineapple birthday cake as something to laugh at, but with Danny's mood of late, she just didn't know anymore.

When they came out of the room, Danny's office was empty.

"Where'd he go?" Steve frowned when his phone bleeped with a text from Chin. "Ah."

"What?"

"He and Chin left to follow up on a tip off we got on the Island Slasher case," Steve thumbed towards the main doors as he informed Kono.

"Oh, okay," she nodded.

Steve checked his watch. "I'm gonna finish up in my office. Shout me when they get back, alright?"

"Will do," Kono smiled, before she grabbed herself a coffee and left to carry on with her paperwork.

**H-5-0**


	4. the game 4

**H-5-0**

Chin had left Danny sitting in his car after another useless waste of their time following another useless bogus tip. The HPD hotline had been ringing off the hook since the newspapers had increased their coverage as July rapidly approached, and he remembered what Danny had said about the elusive 'Island Slasher' that had been terrorising the islands for years.

_By sensationalising what this knife-wielding maniac had already done was only going to encourage him even more._

With the heaviness in his stomach those words had left him with, Chin revved his bike and started his way back to Iolani Palace. He couldn't help the overwhelming feeling of dread just wondering if and when they'd find the first of the Island Slasher's latest victims... because it was already July, and time had run out.

Watching Chin leave, Danny reached between the seats and pulled out the birthday card Rachel had sent him through the post. It was a generic card, with a palm tree on the front, and a cartoon monkey saying 'Happy Birthday, Daddy' swinging from it. Try as he might, he just couldn't bring himself to smile, even with his little girl's card in his hand.

Inside, Rachel had written a short, curt message of a simple birthday greeting, and had left a space for Grace to sign her name. He traced his finger over the childish scrawl, followed the careful way she'd looped the G to the R, and sighed shakily. There was one 'kiss', right next to the E.

And that was it. No other message, no usual hand drawn birthday picture, no 'I love you, Danno'... Nothing.

He briefly thought about his life only a year ago, when he'd actually thought he was happy, and wondered how in the last twelve months things could have changed so drastically. His brother, Matt, had walked out of his life. Kono had been suspended. Five-O had been shut down. Steve had been framed for the murder of both Governor Pat Jameson and Laura Hills, and Danny had to choose between staying behind to fight for his partner's innocence and leaving with Rachel and Grace for New Jersey. He chose to stay thinking that Rachel would maybe wait for him, understand that Steve, his friends, needed him, and he just couldn't abandon them to their fate without doing _something_ to help them. But she didn't, and he missed his only chance to become a family again.

Add on top of all that nearly dying by Sarin poisoning, and losing yet another apartment... finding out that he _wasn't_ going to be a father again... _"Sorry, Daniel, The baby's not yours, it's Stan's. I got the dates mixed up. I'm further along than I thought, and Stan and I are going to try and make it work for the baby's sake."_

Helping Rachel when she went into labour with baby Charlie was the hardest thing he'd ever done. Being there, when the baby that he'd wanted so much to be his came into the world, tore a gaping hole in his soul, and only served to bring home everything that Danny had lost all over again.

He held the card in his fingers, trying to stop them shaking. Danny couldn't blame his daughter for not wanting to see him, even on his birthday. Not after...

Swiping at his eyes, he viciously bit his lips together and forced himself to breathe through his nose slowly as the argument he and Rachel had had filled his head in every painful detail...

"_Rachel, please," Danny said holding his hands up. "Calm down."_

"_Don't you tell me to calm down, Daniel" she screamed at him. Two nurses and a whole family visiting a patient turned around and stared at them. Danny quickly offered an apology and quietly ushered his estranged wife into the nearest empty room. He'd come to the hospital by to check on Stan, and again to apologise for shooting him, when he was accosted in the corridor by the elevators, and the look on Rachel's face nearly had him running for the hills._

"_Because of _you_, my husband is in the hospital with a gunshot wound, and our daughter is scared to death of stepping foot outside her home!"_

_Oh God, his baby... Danny's hand flew to his mouth at the thought of Grace traumatised after her ordeal at the hands of Peterson, and a wave of guilt crushed his heart._

"_Maybe if I came by-"_

"_No!" Rachel snapped harshly, her eyes cold and dark. "Shut up!" She scrubbed a hand through her hair and ground her teeth. "You know what the worst part of all this is, Daniel?"_

"_Rachel, I'm sorry, but-"_

"_But what? What on Earth can you say to make any of this right?" she yelled back at him. "Do you know what the worst part is? Having our daughter kidnapped and left for dead in a storage locker? Having our lives threatened, mine and Charlie's? Or you shooting my husband?"_

_Danny couldn't speak. He knew the answer was all of them and more. But he'd had no other choice. Couldn't she see that? He looked at his ex-wife, and could see her visibly shaking apart, and instinctively reached to hold her like he had once done before a lifetime ago, stopping himself just in time._

"_All of them, of course, but the worst part is that this will never be over with you, will it?"_

"_That's not fair," Danny shook his head, his chest seizing when he realised in which direction this was going._

"_When will it be fair? When one of us is dead?" Rachel cried, tears spilling now. She sighed shakily. "Grace's picture was in the newspaper. Our names were dragged through the press like we're something we should be discussed after dinner!" And again, Danny cursed reporters for the sleazy, insensitive shits they were. But what could he do? He was a high profile law enforcement officer, a member of the Governor's Elite Task Force. He couldn't stop the news. Rachel paused a moment before asking, "Do you want to know what Grace saw on the internet last night?"_

_Frowning, Danny stood silently, because Rachel was going to tell him whether he wanted to know or not._

"_Someone had sent our daughter a link to a video," she said quietly. "It was sent via a friend's email, so she innocently opened it. It was a recorded image, probably done with a mobile phone, of you shooting her step-father." _

"_Oh Jesus," Danny gasped, his hands gripping his hair. Oh God... he couldn't think. His baby girl had seen him shoot her Step-Stan? All the colour drained from his face and he felt dizzy and sick. Rachel stared at him._

"_I'm suing for full custody, Daniel. I'm going to make sure my daughter is safe, and as soon as it is feasibly possible, we'll be leaving Oahu."_

_His eyes widened at that, the clipped words delivered so coldly, and he staggered a fraction. She was taking Grace away from him. He began to shake his head, his mouth forming words of protest, but nothing came out._

"_Grace doesn't want to see you right now, Daniel," she said a little softer, almost sympathetic but not quite, "She's... afraid of you."_

"_Please, Rachel, don't... You can't do this," Danny pleaded, eyes beseeching, but he knew he'd already lost. And if Grace was afraid of him... _

_He curled his hands into fists and stood up straight._ _He wasn't going to give up fighting for his daughter, but... he would back away if it was what Grace wanted._

"_Rachel..."_

_But she turned her back on him and opened the door, wiping her eyes with shaking fingers. Without looking back, she said clearly, "Do not come by the house, Daniel, and don't visit Stan again. I don't want to see you. My lawyer will be in contact."_

_And then she was gone, and Danny had lost his daughter, his sole reason for existing on this pineapple infested rock... his sole reason for existing anywhere._

Since then, Danny had tried to keep his head above the depression that was drowning him, but day after day, he sank a little further. His mood at work had affected the team dynamic, and he regretted that deeply because the camaraderie that was once there, so free and easy between them, had been fractured, and even after talking with Steve, he still had moments, when he was sat all alone in his crappy apartment staring at the walls as if they were closing in on him, suffocating him, when his eyes would drift to the framed picture of Grace, sitting on his small bedside table right next to his gun. And he knew it wasn't empty... knew it'd only take one bullet... a split second and then...

But his eyes would move to Grace again, and he'd see her smiling face, and he'd know that he could never hurt her like that. He'd hurt her enough already.

Living with what he'd done was his penance.

He sometimes wondered if he should have told Steve the truth that night, about everything, instead of keeping silent about the facts that Rachel had started proceedings to sue for full custody, that Grace was afraid of him, that he was falling apart, screaming inside, that he really needed someone to hold onto, keep him grounded in this life, because he felt like he was losing himself...

But he'd glossed over only what Steve needed to know and built a wall around himself, created a veneer just thick enough to fool everyone into thinking that he was okay, and kept the broken pieces of his soul firmly locked away inside.

In his life, Danny had always dealt with his own problems, and although he knew Steve, (and Kono and Chin,) meant well and knew they would support him in any way they could, he was already skating that fine line between control and insanity, and he just couldn't deal with the sympathy. Just, no...

He closed the card and carefully put it back in the envelope, tucking it back down the side of his seat out of sight. He was thirty eight today. It wasn't old, but what had he got to show for his thirty eight years? A failed marriage, a daughter who was afraid of him, and a future that was so bleak that he didn't know how he was going to make it to thirty nine. He looked up and saw himself in the rear-view, red rimmed, tired eyes staring back.

"Happy birthday," he murmured to himself, and started the car.

By the time he hit South King Street, he'd managed to compose himself enough to muster up a smile for his favourite surf shop sign holder.

**H-5-0**

Hacking into Grace Williams' email account had been as easy as pushing an eight inch blade into the soft flesh of a young woman's belly. The resultant fallout had been glorious, and with a new batch of photographs showing a level of despair that just made The Game even more thrilling, the truck had slowly pulled away even before Detective Williams reached his Camaro in the hospital car park.

That day at Queens Medical, a few days after the Detective had gunned down his ex-wife's husband in cold blood, had been a surprising bonus, and the Island Slasher smiled widely, calmly pulled into the flow of traffic on the highway, and headed towards Ala Moana beach, where the first chosen victim was just about to start work.

It was time.

**H-5-0**

"Yo, boss, Danny's back," Kono whispered loudly as she opened his door. A grin immediately formed on Steve's face and he jumped up, grabbed the small matchbook, and skidded into Danny's office where he and Kono had placed the cake on Danny's desk as soon as Chin had returned.

When Danny finally walked in, the facade that everything was right with his life firmly back in place, his stride faltered when he saw his partner, Chin and Kono standing side by side in front of his office door. Immediately, his eyes narrowed suspiciously and focussed on Steve.

"What have you done?" he asked. Steve sputtered, his face an outraged picture of surprise and annoyance.

"What? Why? Why do you always assume I've done something, Danny?"

"Why? Because you, my insane friend, are crazy." Danny tried to peer into his office, but was blocked by a wall of Kelly-Kalakaua cousins. "Have you blown up my desk? Because you store your must-have Thirty-One Flavours of munitions just about anywhere you can stash them, Steven," he said prodding a finger against Steve's chest.

"No, I have not, and no, I don't!"

"Case and point, SuperSEAL, the mini rocket launcher in the trunk of my car?"

Stuck for an answer, Steve just glared at Danny. Okay, he did have a point. He suddenly smiled hugely, catching Danny off guard.

"What?"

"Happy birthday!" all three of them chorused and stepped aside. Danny stood rooted to the spot and stared at the _pineapple_ on his desk, with the candle steadily dribbling wax.

"Is that a... pineapple?"

"Sure is, buddy," Steve nodded. "Come on, make a wish and blow out your candle!"

Suddenly wishing he was anywhere but there, Danny remembered the card in his car and bit his lip. Steve saw the slight shift in his partner's mood and glanced over at Kono and Chin, wondering if this had been a good idea after all.

"Hey, you okay?" Steve asked softly, blinking when Danny quickly darted forward to the cake.

"I wish this wasn't a pineapple," he nodded and blew.

"Well, your wish came true, because..." Steve handed Danny a knife and urged him to slice into it. "It's a chocolate pineapple!"

A slight smile played on Danny's lips and Steve chalked that up to a small personal victory. He helped dole out the portions of cake to Kono and Chin, and took one for himself, handing Danny a plate and a fork, too.

"Oh God, that's heavenly," Kono sighed around a huge mouthful. "I'm gonna have to hit the gym an extra two sessions to work this off, but who cares?!"

"Yeah, Mrs Ling makes an awesome chocolate cake, huh?" Steve smiled licking the butter cream off his fork. Chin rolled his eyes heavenward and hummed appreciatively.

"You not gonna try it?"

Danny looked up from where he was staring at the moist chocolate sponge, and blinked. "Huh?" He saw his friends watching him and smiled self consciously, quickly pushing a loaded fork into his mouth. "Sorry."

But it tasted sour on his tongue and he had to force himself to swallow. Danny nodded and pretended it was the best thing he'd ever eaten, relieved when everyone seemed to accept that and carry on enjoying themselves.

Afterwards, Danny excused himself to the bathroom, needing to wash his sticky hands, and casually walked out of the Five-O offices, deliberately making his steps calm and steady. As soon as he locked the men's room door behind him, he rushed to the nearest stall and leaned over the toilet just in time.

The cake hadn't even settled, making him feel nauseous, and the more he ate, the worse it got. But Danny was glad that he'd been able to hide it from the others until...

He retched again, his body folding in on itself. With a dull thud he didn't even feel, Danny fell on one knee and moaned, his throat burning painfully, the pathetic rasp sounding hollow and pitiful in the small room. Tears threatened, but Danny blinked them rapidly away. He just had to get through the day, and then he could lose it later, probably inside a bottle of scotch.

Eventually, he flushed the toilet, pushed himself up with a grimace and moved over to the sink. Danny rinsed his mouth and looked up to stare at the mirror, forcing himself to smile so hard that his face ached, and until his mask slipped back into place. Carefully blowing out a breath, he straightened his shirt, ran his fingers through his hair, ignored the grungy feeling after kneeling on the unsanitary floor of the men's room, and unlocked the door. Passing the coffee vending machine, he grabbed a cup to wash away the lingering sweetness in his mouth before striding back into the office as if nothing had just happened.

"Ugh, we have Kona here and you're drinking that swill?" Kono grimaced when she saw the Styrofoam cup in his hand. Danny just grinned at her.

The afternoon went quickly, with Steve and Danny studying the sites where all the Island Slasher case bodies had been found. On the large map now taped to Danny's office wall, thirty six little coloured pins marked absolutely no pattern at all. Out of the eight islands, only three had been actually been frequented by the killer; Maui, Oahu and the Island of Hawaii itself, and each one had a haphazard scattering of body dump sites. The victims disappeared from the same island that their bodies were found on, so at least it was safe to assume that the Island Slasher didn't 'island-hop' during his month long killing spree.

Just as four-forty five approached, Kono came rushing into Danny's office with an elated smile on her face.

"You just discover the meaning of life involves a surf board?" Danny quipped with a grin.

"'Course it does, brah," she smirked right back, and then added, "I found her."

Steve stood up. "Alison Du Pont?"

"Yeah. She found out Five-O was running the investigation in the newspapers, and got in touch!"

"Well, score one for the wretched journalists," Danny snarked. Seems at least they were actually good for something.

Rolling his eyes, Steve ignored Danny and headed to his office, Kono following close behind.

"She says she'll be at the Prince Kuhio Statue on Kuhio beach at five o'clock today, but she's only waiting there for ten minutes," Kono stated. "She's scared, boss."

"I bet," Danny nodded in the doorway. He'd already got his weapon, his car keys hooked on his index finger, and was waiting leaning up against the doorjamb. Steve snatched the keys with a grin and headed out.

"Just once," Danny muttered after him. "Just once, can I actually drive my own car? Huh? Huh?"

Kono snickered softly while she watched them leave.

**H-5-0**


	5. the game 5

**Thanks for all the lovely reviews! (and for the birthday greetings for my young'un :D) On with the fic!**

**(Featured song, At Seventeen by Janis Ian. Really wonderful song!)**

**H-5-0**

Alison Du Pont held a small picture in her fingers, a newspaper cut out of Detective Danny Williams and Lt Commander McGarrett, and periodically scanned up and down Kalakaua Ave for the silver Camaro Five-O were known to drive.

She checked her watch and pulled her sun hat on tighter, hiding behind a pair of huge sunglasses. Alison was scared. It was July, four years after the Island Slasher's last run of murders, and she was terrified that she'd be taken again.

It had been a battle of wills and a fight to get her confidence to cooperate before she'd finally picked up the phone and called the HPD tip line. She'd been put straight through to Five-O Task Force offices, and within a few minutes, she'd agreed to a meeting.

From her place by a bench, she saw the Camaro pull into the parking bay on the road, and turned away slightly as two men climbed out. Alison didn't need to check the picture in her hand as she'd memorised their faces, but she looked anyway and breathed out a slow steady sigh, watching warily as they approached.

"Miss Du Pont?" Steve asked when they saw her. Alison Du Pont was obviously older now, but still had the same build as pictured on the photographs they had back at Five-O. Her hair under the large sunhat was now blonde though.

"Yeah," she said warily. Danny threw a glance at Steve and carefully stepped forward, his hands waving an introduction as he spoke.

"Hi, my name's Detective Danny Williams, this is Commander Steve McGarrett," he said softly. "Thank you for getting in touch, Miss Du Pont. I understand how hard this must be for you."

She pulled off her sunglasses and sat down, her long flowery linen skirt flapping in the light Hawaiian breeze. Danny silently asked permission to join her.

"Has the first victim been taken yet?" Alison asked, looking first up at Steve then to Danny. Both men shook their heads. "M...maybe he's finished."

Trading looks, Danny frowned at Steve. "We can't assume anything, Miss Du Pont, and anything you can tell us will be of immense help."

Alison cowered slightly when Steve stepped closer, and Danny put his hand up halting him, seeing how terrified the woman was. Steve narrowed his eyes, but stepped back again.

"Is there anywhere you'd like to go? Where you might feel more comfortable, safer?" Danny asked her gently, watching her nervously wring her hands together and glance about. "How about we take you back to Five-O?"

"Okay," she said after a moment, and Danny walked her to the car, letting Steve drive this time without a word.

~o~

Kono watched Danny and the witness for another minute before getting up. She walked into Chin's office with a frown on her face, "Why is Danny interviewing Du Pont without Steve?"

Chin glanced up and saw Steve at his desk, head down, and going over files like they held the key to life. He shrugged. "Apparently, he scares her."

"Oh. Well... okay," Kono smirked. Well, the boss could be intimidating at times. He was badass. She turned when the man in question walked in and sat down.

"So, I've been going over Alison Du Pont's file again," Steve said, his eyes briefly wandering over to the glass walls of Danny's office. Both Kono and Chin gave him their attention. "There's a period of time which doesn't quite add up."

Chin frowned and turned to his computer. "Huh. She has court sealed juvenile files," he said after a few moments, "Shortly after she was placed in foster care."

"Alison Du Pont, formally known as Jacqui Calloway, biological twin sister of Marie, born in Oahu, June eighteenth, 1969."

"Mirror twin," Kono nodded.

"Yeah. The father left when they were two years old, and the mother drank and was violent," Steve carried on repeating what they already knew. "The mother and Marie were killed on a hiking vacation, Independence Day Weekend, here on Oahu when Alison was twelve, the Search and Rescue reported that the remains found were too mutilated to differentiate between the two, although a forensic investigation did find bloodied and torn clothing from them both, and ruled it an accidental death by a wild boar attack. Alison walked away with minor injuries, but she was traumatised and didn't talk for months. She went into therapy, and was emancipated at age seventeen because her foster parents couldn't handle her violent mood swings."

"She works as a veterinarian's assistant now, but hasn't been able to hold a job down for more than a few years at a time," Kono said. "I guess what happened to her, as a kid, and then, God, the whole Island Slasher experience, really messed her up."

"Yeah," Steve agreed. "Chin, I want to see those sealed records. Maybe something in there might tell us why she was chosen."

Blowing out a breath, Chin nodded, "Alright, brah, I'll see what I can do."

Steve looked across at his partner's office again to see Danny give Alison a glass of water. He frowned slightly at the way she was leaning towards him, but shook it off. Danny was good with witnesses, and his compassion was certainly what Alison needed right now.

~o~

Alison sipped the water slowly, before putting the glass on the floor. "Thanks," she murmured.

"You're welcome," Danny smiled.

"Your daughter, right?"

Danny turned to the framed photograph of Grace she was looking at and nodded, "Yes."

"She's beautiful," Alison said. She looked away. "I can't have children. After... after what he did to me, I mean."

"I'm sorry," Danny said softly.

"It's okay. I always wanted a girl though. What's her name?"

"Grace."

"Such a lovely name." She smiled wistfully, a faint flush colouring her cheeks, "Sorry. I didn't mean to pry."

"It's alright," Danny smiled back. He didn't feel that Alison was prying, more nervous if anything. According to the date of birth they had on file, she'd just turned forty-three, and looked really well despite the harrowing experiences life had thrown at her. He thought the blonde hair was at strange odds with her dark eyes and tanned complexion, though. Waiting a few seconds longer, he then prompted, "So, you were telling me about that night, the night you were taken."

"Yeah. I'd just finished my shift at the beach cafe on Ala Moana Park Drive... I worked there during the summer, trying to save for school," she said with a small smile. "It was about eleven o'clock and I was walking to my car when... when-"

"It's okay, take your time," Danny soothed calmly. He leaned forward a little, his elbows resting in his knees, fingers linked in front of him.

"There was a van, a dirty van. He put a bag over my head and h-hit me." She looked up, her wide eyes filling with tears. "I don't remember much after that, only... he, ah..."

"Okay," Danny nodded. "Try this. Close your eyes... Think about where you were, what it smelled like, sounded like... Can you remember anything about the vehicle he used?"

Alison blinked at him, but after a minute, closed her eyes and breathed out a shaky breath. "It was dirty, inside, and smelled musty and damp. I remember my arms scraping on the floor, like it was covered with grit." She absently stroked a hand over her forearm, the sleeve of her shirt riding up to reveal the thin silvery scars – a grisly reminder permanently marring her pale skin. She drew her eyebrows together as she thought back, "There was music, too. Always the same song..."

Scribbling down everything she was saying, Danny looked up, "Music?"

"Yeah," she murmured, "_'I learned the truth at seventeen, that love was meant for beauty queens...'_"

The soft singing sounded eerie and disturbing in the small office as the lyrics of a song etched permanently in her mind, spilled out in a series of ragged breaths. "..._'At seventeen I learned the truth and those of us with ravaged faces, lacking in the social graces..._'"

Totally lost in her memories, Danny let Alison come back to him when she was ready. In the meantime, he grabbed his smart phone and quickly typed in the lyrics. His eyebrows rose when the title and artist of the song immediately popped up, and he sent a text to Kono to look into it for him.

"..._'And murmur vague obscenities at ugly girls like me, at seventeen...'_" Alison wiped a hand over her mouth and looked up.

Danny waited silently.

"I remember," she whispered.

Kono glanced at her cell when it bleeped and frowned at the text from Danny. She pulled up the song on her computer and played it softly. It was a hit in 1975 for an artist called Janis Ian, and the longer she listened the more she frowned. It was pretty depressive, and not at all what she enjoyed listening to herself. Other than that, it was a pretty ordinary song with nothing sinister about it or the artist, who was still alive today. She looked up to see Danny writing down notes as Alison spoke, and hoped he was getting somewhere with her.

After another hour, Danny stood as Alison gathered her things together. He handed her his contact card.

"Thank you for today, Alison," he smiled sincerely. "I know this can't have been easy for you, but you've been amazing."

And it was true. After all the years of interviews with the detectives from the previous cases, and the FBI, Danny had managed to coax a little more information from her.

"I hope you catch him, before he does it again," she nodded, rubbing absently at the scars on her wrist.

"I hope so too," Danny answered. "Call me, anytime, if you remember anything else, or..."

"I will, thank you, Detective."

"Danny..."

"Danny," she repeated with a smile. "Oh, and happy birthday."

Blinking, Danny looked at her in surprise as she pointed to the card behind his desk, the one his team had signed and given him with the cake earlier. Oh, right.

"Ah, yeah, that. Thanks," he said, feeling a little foolish that he'd forgotten.

"Are you seeing Grace later?"

The question was completely unexpected and personal that Danny's chest suddenly ached and his carefully maintained mask nearly cracked. No, he wasn't seeing Grace later. He didn't know if he'd ever be seeing his precious daughter again anytime soon. It must have shown on his face because Alison quickly ducked her head and apologised.

Danny shook it off and reinforced the walls he kept tight around himself, and plastered on an easy smile. "Yeah, later," he lied, "It being my birthday and all, y'know."

Alison nodded. "Oh, good, have a lovely time with your daughter, Danny, I'd better get going."

"Can we offer you a lift?" Danny asked when they walked towards the main doors. He was aware of Steve, Chin and Kono watching them from their offices, but kept his focus on her.

"No, thank you, I can get a cab," she declined and put on her sun hat and glasses again. They said goodbye and Danny returned to his office to get his notes. He had a lot to report!

He got to the smart table the same time as the rest of his team.

"She okay going home on her own?" Kono asked a little concerned that Danny had let her leave unescorted.

"Alison's a tough lady," Danny shrugged. "I offered..."

"I'm sure she'll be fine, she's a survivor," Steve nodded and no one could dispute that fact.

"Well, her description of the suspect coincides with that of the FBI profile," Danny started getting back to his report.

"She remembers?"

Blowing out a breath, Danny nodded. "Oh yeah. Male, around twenty, twenty five years old, slight build, and a complete psycho whack-job."

"That would make him around fifty years old now, give or take," Chin added.

"Did she give you anything on where she was taken, how she got there? Did she see this bastard's face?" Steve asked.

Danny flicked through his notes and started from the beginning. "She was attacked after work by her car on Ala Moana Park Drive at around eleven PM. A van pulled up right beside her. By the sounds of it, she was targeted."

"Why d'you say that?" Steve frowned.

"I've seen enough abduction cases in New Jersey to know that the victim is watched carefully beforehand, so the kidnapping happens without any problems. It's premeditated," Danny shrugged. "And to take someone just as she finishes a shift, the killer knew her work patterns, that she'd be alone, what time to be there without drawing too much attention to himself..."

"Jesus, that's just creepy," Kono shuddered.

"That's the lack of moral and ethical consideration of the criminal element of the human race for ya," Danny quipped. He carried on, "She said he put a bag over her head and hit her with something."

"Was she knocked out?" Chin queried.

"Not quite. The van was _'dirty inside and smelled musty and damp'_, with grit on the floor," he directly quoted, "and here's something that's new... she said she remembers hearing music."

"Music? That _is_ new," Chin mused. "That's not in any of the other previous police interviews."

Danny lifted a hand in acknowledgement as he flipped the page of his notepad.

"The song you texted me with?" Kono asked. Danny nodded.

"Song? What song?" Steve frowned.

"She sang the whole thing from memory. Apparently he played it constantly, in the van, and the place where she was ...tortured," Danny continued.

Kono leaned over and quickly ran her fingers across the smart table, a few seconds later, the dulcet tones of Janis Ian's voice filled the war room.

"_I learned the truth at seventeen that love was meant for beauty queens, in high school, girls with clear skinned smiles, who married young and then retired..."_

"'_At Seventeen'_, by Janis Ian and a hit for her in 1975. It was _'inspired by a newspaper article about a former teenage debutante who learned the hard way that being popular did not solve all her problems,'_" Kono read from the internet as the song carried on. "Mmm apart from the pretty heavy lyrics, there's nothing sinister about the music or the artist."

"_A brown eyed girl in hand me downs, whose name I never could pronounce, said, pity, please, the ones who serve, they only get what they deserve..."_

"Jesus, gimme Springsteen any day. This is depressing," Danny muttered reaching forward and clicking off the music. "Anyway, back to, y'know..." he pointedly waved his notebook.

"Right, what about a location?" Steve asked. "Does she remember where she was taken?"

"No, but like the van, it was apparently damp and musty... smelled earthy. The guy wore a mask and never took it off, so she never got a look at him," Danny said. "I'm thinking wherever this bastard took her, it was in the jungles here on Oahu."

"Yeah, the earthy, damp, musty smell," Chin nodded. "She was found by Likelike highway. Lots of dense rainforest around there." He pulled up a digital map to highlight just that and shook his head. "Intense searches back in 1988 and then again in 2000 turned up nothing. With flash floods and landslides, any evidence was simply washed away with the Hawaiian weather. Same with the searches on Hawaii and Maui, too."

"Huh, figures," Danny frowned.

The Island Slasher was using nature as his own cleaner, eradicating any evidence that would lead to his capture. Steve pulled satellite images up of Oahu now and stared at them thoughtfully.

He might be buying Catherine, his Navy Lieutenant 'girlfriend', a lot of dinners in the near future...

Danny rubbed a hand over his face and blinked rapidly for a moment before going back to studying his notes again. Weariness radiated off him, and Steve suddenly felt like a shit. It was still Danny's birthday, and they'd made a little more headway today with the Island Slasher case, so he decided that an early night would benefit them all. First, though... "Hey, who's down for beers?"

"I'm in," Kono instantly nodded, as she always did, even though as the rookie, she usually copped for the first round.

"Yeah, sounds good, brah," Chin muttered as he stretched the kinks out of his back.

"Danny?" Steve looked at him. "Beer?"

"Oh, ah..." Danny hedged. He really didn't feel like socialising, especially today, but before he could think of an excuse, Kono provided one for him.

"You seeing Grace tonight?"

It was served with a smile, on a silver plated platter, and Danny took it with both hands. "Yes," he nodded, mustering up an expression that he prayed resembled a look of excitement and happiness, and not the barefaced miserable lie that twisted his insides. "In point of fact, I'd better vamoose if I wanna catch her before she eats all the fairy cakes she's probably baked."

It was so easy to live in the fantasy that life was perfect, but the words Danny let trip so easily off his tongue left behind a taste so bitter that he just wanted to throw up.

"Okay, Danny," Steve smiled widely, "See you tomorrow. Happy birthday, partner."

"Yeah, thanks, guys," Danny waved and headed out, leaving his team behind. Steve watched him go, glad that his partner was seeing his daughter, it was something that Danny needed.

**H-5-0**


	6. the game 6

**Thanks once again for all the great reviews, guys! Here we go... ;p**

**H-5-0**

Danny tipped the whiskey bottle upside down and let the last beads of liquid splash into his glass, dropping the bottle on the floor without even looking. With his loafer's uncaringly left where he'd walked across his frayed and worn rug and the first five buttons of his un-tucked shirt undone, Danny had simply headed straight for the half litre bottle under his kitchen sink as soon as he'd got back to his apartment. He would never call it 'home', because home was where your heart was, and Danny's was shattered and crushed at the feet of Rick Peterson and Rachel, and her blood sucking lawyers.

He lifted the glass up to one eye and peered at the letter on his coffee table through the amber liquid, squinting until the bold header came into focus. An official, dressed in a smart suit and tie, had been waiting for him by his front door, and had given it to him with a curt "Daniel Williams, you have been served" even before he'd had a chance to slip his key into the lock.

When he opened it, his whole world fell from under his feet. Rachel had taken out a restraining order against him, to stop him seeing Grace for three weeks, while the custody agreement was revised in her favour. Apparently, according to his daughter's therapist, it was in Grace's best interest to facilitate her recovery.

Danny knew his ex-wife could be spiteful, but this... this was beyond vicious, and for a brief moment, anger flared inside him because, damn it, she couldn't stop him seeing her, Grace was his daughter, too! But that anger quickly evaporated as he realised that he couldn't really argue with Rachel's course of action. Not really. Especially if she'd been advised by Grace's therapist. Especially if his daughter was fucking _scared_ of him. But he was losing her... he was losing his baby... and he couldn't stop it.

The shrill sounds of glass smashing on the wall echoed around the small room and broke the silence for a moment. Danny looked at the mess, the whiskey running down the insipid cream paintwork in pale brown rivulets, and felt nothing. His head pounded with the turmoil of hatred and grief, self loathing and absolute misery, and he pulled his pillow to his face, curled up on his ratty sofa and simply sobbed.

At three AM, he screamed himself awake, panting and crying, and forced his shaking body into the shower before yanking on his shorts, T-shirt and running shoes.

He automatically grabbed his keys and left. His knee brace sat forgotten by his cell on the small coffee table. It was still dark, but Danny didn't care, and he headed out towards the park.

His pace was relentless, faster than normal, and Danny could hear the blood pounding in his ears and feel his heart thumping hard and fast in his chest. His head was still filled with the bloodied images that his nightmare had conjured up... of Grace dead, slashed and mutilated... Of her cold accusing eyes staring at him...

"She's not dead, not dead... Grace is alive, she's not dead... not dead..." he growled through gritted teeth in time with the thuds of his feet on the unforgiving rough dirt path.

It started raining, the usual tropical Hawaiian rain that came down so hard that the fat droplets bounced, but Danny didn't even notice and kept on running, running, running...

Mud now made the trail slippery and he lost his footing, scraping his calf on old jagged volcanic rocks, but he got back up and carried on running, running, running...

"Not dead... My Grace is alive and I love her... Her Danno loves her... not dead... Danno loves you, baby..."

Another fall, a bloodied knee this time, but the rain washed away the grime and mud leaving tears of red trickling down his skin. And still Danny ran.

The next fall, he stayed down, and sat panting in the torrential downpour and the mud. His lungs burned, his bad knee ached but he couldn't even bring himself to care. Water clogged his lashes and disguised the fact that he was silently crying, and Danny remained there until the sun rose and the rain stopped.

Soaking wet and filthy with muck and blood, he limped his way back to his apartment, ignoring anyone that stared at him as if he'd gone insane, because Danny agreed with them anyway.

He stopped short as soon as he rounded the corner of his little street when he saw Steve standing by his door, knocking.

"Fuck," he hissed. What the hell was Steve doing there? Rolling his eyes, Danny pushed his fingers through his sodden hair and approached him.

"What're you doing here?" he asked as he shoved his key in the lock and opened the door. Steve stood gaping at Danny, blinking stupidly until his face morphed into something akin to constipation. "What's with the face, Steven?"

"What the hell happened to you, huh?" Steve blurted, storming into the small apartment, blindly closing the door and motioning to Danny's soaked dirty clothing and bloodied scrapes with a wild sweep of one hand.

Pulling off his shirt and dropping on top of Rachel's restraining order letter, Danny knelt down to untie his shoes. "What are you talking about? Why are you here, Steven?" he repeated with a sigh.

"You weren't answering your cell, and-"

"And you had to come over here? It's not even six AM yet." He stood up and glared at his partner. "Didn't it occur to you that I might still be sleeping? Huh?"

"You weren't," Steve pointed out with a frown. Danny narrowed his eyes.

"Not the point," he spat, poking a finger at Steve's chest.

"So, where were you, and why are you bleeding?"

Pissed that Steve was acting like a dog with a favourite bone, and wouldn't let it go, (not that he'd ever expect the moron to let anything go!), Danny sighed heavily and threw his hands up. "I was jogging, okay?"

"Jogging? Since when do you jog?" Steve asked, a little hurt overlaying the surprise in his voice at the fact that Danny had apparently been keeping this from him.

"Since when? I've always jogged. How the hell d'you think I'm able to keep up with you on a daily basis, huh?" Danny muttered inspecting his elbow. "I swear... energizer bunny on crack." He ignored the affronted huff and elaborated, "I was out jogging, and your wonderful tropical paradise decided to make my morning perfect by opening the heavens and trying to drown me, okay?"

"Danny, it rained last night," Steve helpfully pointed out the obvious, worry and concern bubbling up as he realised Danny had been out running most of the night.

"Wow, seriously, that's stunning detective work. Your powers of deduction astound me, Sherlock," Danny scoffed sarcastically. "I just said that. I got caught, I got wet... Rain makes slippy mud and I fell a coupl'a times because God forbid I have a problem-free, peaceful day _ever_ in my life!"

Reaching forward to see Danny's scraped elbow, Steve jumped slightly when Danny yanked himself away and scowled at him. "What're you doing?"

"Looks nasty, I was just-"

"What? Checking out my boo-boo's, Steven?" Danny raised an eyebrow. "I'm gonna go take a shower. You tell me why you're here."

And with that he disappeared into his bathroom, leaving Steve to shout through the door.

"A girl has gone missing," he reported loudly just as Danny turned on the water. Steve, automatically making himself at home, opened the fridge and frowned. It was empty save for a carton of milk, a plate of stale half eaten sandwiches, and a box of PF Chang's beef lo mein, which he quickly put back after taking a cautionary whiff. He had expected to see fairy cakes, or at least something left over from Danny's evening with his daughter. Closing the door, Steve's sharp eyes saw the empty bottle of whiskey on the floor hidden partially under the sofa and he picked it up, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth, not liking the unease that began to creep into his subconscious.

"How long?" Danny's voice shouted from the shower. Steve blinked and looked up at the partially open bedroom door.

"Ah... She didn't arrive home after work yesterday evening, and her flatmate got worried as they'd had plans to celebrate her engagement," he added putting the bottle by Danny's car keys on the side in the kitchen. He stared at it for a long moment and blew out a heavy breath.

Danny winced when the soap stung his scrapes, but he washed himself until all the blood and mud was gone. The news that a girl had gone missing was not good and the first thought on everyone's mind was that the Island Slasher had started his murder spree. He finished his shower in his usual three minutes, wrapped a towel around his waist and came out of the bathroom.

"Don't even," he warned when he saw Steve glancing at his watch and looking somewhat surprised at him through the gap in his bedroom door. "Turn around."

Steve obediently turned away as Danny dressed. "She works at the Shave Ice place at Ala Moana Beach. Chin and Kono are getting in touch with the manager to see what time she clocked off."

"So we're assuming this girl-"

"Grace Collins," Steve noted. Danny felt the familiar skipped beat of his heart at the mention of his daughter's first name, and he momentarily faltered before pushing it away and focussing again.

It still threw and unnerved him though.

"Grace Collins... So, we're assuming, if this is the work of the Slasher and he sticks to his MO, she's victim Number One?"

"Yeah."

"Wait," Danny frowned, coming out of the bedroom dressed, "She works on Ala Moana Park Drive?"

Steve checked his smart phone and nodded, eyes widening as it dawned on him what Danny meant. Alison Du Pont had worked on Ala Moana Park Drive too, at a beach cafe in 1988, which was now the Shave Ice place.

Coincidence? It was too early to speculate, but damn, the press was going have a field day with that one.

Toeing into his loafers, Danny gelled his fingers and swiped them through his hair before combing it back into the style he liked. Steve watched curiously as he phoned Chin to check into this new possible change of MO, and to note the previous abduction sites in Oahu on the off chance that the Slasher could repeat himself again.

"What do we know about her?" Danny asked rinsing his hands in the kitchen sink. He grabbed his wallet, badge and gun, and turned on the spot looking around for his keys.

"Blonde, aged nineteen, studying to be a dancer, from the mainland and here working for the summer," Steve told him. He pointed to the Camaro keys by the empty bottle of whiskey.

"Oh, thanks," Danny muttered, took his keys and deposited the bottle in his recycle bin. "Watch the glass," he warned and headed out.

Steve looked down and saw the shattered glass by the wall and ran a hand over his face. Something was very wrong here, but he didn't have time to think about it when he heard the throaty roar of the Camaro starting up. He pulled the door to, check that it locked, and jumped in his truck.

**H-5-0**

Grace Collins woke up slowly. It was cold and damp and smelled dirty and musty like she was underground. She tried to open her eyes and panicked when she realised that they'd been taped closed. Gasping loudly, Grace struggled to sit up, but her bound feet and wrists made it difficult and she sagged to the side again and cried.

"H-hello? Is anyone there?"

"_I learned the truth at seventeen that love was meant for beauty queens..."_

The music started low and the volume was slowly turned up, and Grace felt her stomach twist in sheer fear as everything flooded back. She'd been attacked by her car at the beach after work. Someone had hit her and pushed her into a van, and they'd played this song... over and over...

"Please... Please, let me go," she sobbed, "Please... don't hurt me, let me go..."

The song got louder and a new ear splitting frightening sound of a knife being sharpened against a stone joined it, and Grace started screaming.

The Island Slasher had her.

**H-5-0**

"So, HPD have issued an island wide search for Grace Collins, and are taking calls and interviewing anyone that might've seen anything," Chin said as soon as Danny and Steve walked into Five-O.

"What about her roommate?" Danny asked.

"Kono is with her now," Chin motioned to Kono's office, and both Danny and Steve looked to see a petite native Hawaiian girl answering questions. "Grace's parents are flying in from the mainland tonight. I talked with the manager of the Shave Ice place, and Grace clocked off at eleven PM. HPD is down at Ala Moana Beach right now with the crime lab team."

"That's where we'll be," Steve nodded and he and Danny turned to leave again. They had a matter of days to find Grace Collins before her body would be dumped, mutilated, dead, and Steve didn't want to have to tell her mom and dad that they couldn't save their daughter in time.

The clock was ticking.

"I'm driving. Keys," Steve demanded and held out his hand. Danny scowled, but slapped them into his waiting palm with a little more force than was necessary before climbing into the passenger side of the Camaro and cranking up the air conditioning to full.

"You do realise it says _my_ name on the registration document, right?" Danny stated slightly riled. It was ridiculous. It was _his_ damn car!

"Yeah, I know that, Danno, but you hardly slept a wink of sleep last night and you're limping and you look like shit," Steve told him, shoulder checked the traffic and slipped into an oncoming gap. He wanted to mention the whiskey, but decided to store that little bit away until he had more time.

"Well, thank you for that, Steven, much appreciated."

"What?" Steve shrugged. "It's true, isn't it? Tell me it's not."

"Well, I disagree I look like shit, I always look good," Danny smirked, "And I did sleep last night... just not all night- Hey! _Hey!_ Eyes forward, moron!"

Snapping his attention back to the road, Steve hit the brakes and narrowly missed the idiot that decided to suddenly pull over to the side. "Learn to drive, asshole!" he yelled through the closed window. Danny winced and rolled his eyes, wondering if Steve had been playing Grand Theft Auto on the Xbox with Kono again, because she was just as crazy.

"Are you kidding?"

"What?"

"Just, just get us there in one piece," Danny scowled at the nonplussed look on Steve's stupid face, and slid lower in his seat, massaging his temples with a sigh.

Steve frowned. "Headache?"

"Induced by you and your lunatic driving, yes," Danny mumbled. He sighed again and closed his eyes, hoping Steve would take the hint and shut up.

"So, did you and Grace have a good time last night, huh?"

Christ.

"Yes, thank you." Danny kept his eyes closed, hiding the lie behind his mask, and forced his lips into a smile. "Had a great time, she's the best daughter a man could have. The best..."

When nothing else was offered, Steve left the subject alone and they drove the rest of the way in silence.

A good portion of the road and the Shave Ice place at Ala Moana Beach had been cordoned off with yellow police tape, and Steve lifted it to let Danny under first, before following after. The crime scene unit had already placed markers and had taken what looked like a thorough inventory of every disturbed stone, grain of sand, and blade of grass they could find. HPD were busy keeping the crowds back, and the news reporter's too.

"Oh, joy," Danny growled when he saw the camera crews. He slipped on his sunglasses and leaned closer to Steve, "Smile, babe, we're on sleazy TV." God, he hated the press.

Steve ignored him and went to find the person in charge.

"Commander McGarrett, Detective Williams," a smart looking woman in a CSU jumpsuit said and held out her hand. "Doctor Unis Wong."

Both men shook it and listened to her succinct report on the scene.

"Crime scene's basically clean. Grace Collins' car was still locked, and there's no sign of struggle. We have a faint tire tread track in a small patch of clay that could possibly belong to the vehicle that could have been used to abduct her, but the rain last night didn't help preserve much of the evidence." She used her arms to act out a possible direction of the suspect's route through the car park that brought his van right up beside Grace's car. "If we assume that this is the Island Slasher, he's likely come from the right, just as the victim approached her car. It was fast and precise. A blitz attack."

Danny rubbed the back of his hand across his forehead, the morning heat a stifling prelude of what was promising to be yet another perfectly sticky hot day in sweltering paradise, and squinted along the road. "Did anyone come forward as a witness yet?" he asked because even at eleven PM, he knew the beach would still have had a few people on it, tourists strolling in the moonlight, hardcore surfers that, in his opinion, obviously like to dice with death and sharks...

"None as far as I'm aware," Doctor Wong said.

Turning back to Steve and the woman, Danny glanced over at the Shave Ice place. This was Ala Moana Park Drive, and in 1988, Alison Du Pont had suffered the same fate as Grace Collins as she walked back to her car at eleven PM.

_Jesus..._

"So, we're talking an inconspicuous van," Steve said, "Something that doesn't stand out. Probably dark in colour..."

"Probably a newer vehicle, too," Danny added. Doctor Wong raised her brows. Danny explained, "Because the abductions are done late at night, an older, possibly noisier vehicle would attract unwarranted attention." He walked over to Grace Collins' car and hunkered down, ignoring the twinge in his knee.

"Detective?" Doctor Wong queried.

Pulling out a latex glove, he snapped it on and ran his hand lightly over the asphalt feeling the rough pull of sharp grit under his fingertips. "You got an evidence bag?"

"Grit. You thinking from inside the van?" Steve asked after what Alison had said about her own abduction. It was a long shot, but it couldn't be ignored.

"Maybe," Danny nodded and collected a sample.

"I'll have the lab prioritise this," Doctor Wong said labelling the bag. She handed it to someone who then disappeared with it.

Steve's cell rang. "It's the Governor," he muttered at Danny and walked away to answer it. Danny stood back up and pulled off the glove, feeling a twang of sympathy for his partner having to be the one to inform the governor that they'd failed in their task to stop the Island Slasher from probably taking his first victim. He scanned the onlookers, feeling himself scowl when his eyes caught the news reporters harassing the crime scene techs and policemen trying to do their job, and shook his head.

Dragging a hand over the back of his neck, Danny stopped and stared at a small crowd of onlookers by a copse of trees. He could have sworn he'd seen...

"Hey, you okay, D?"

"What?"

Steve frowned slightly. "You were staring off into space. You okay?"

Shaking his head to clear it, Danny blinked and blew out a breath. "Yeah, I'm fine. How did the Governor take the news?"

The face Steve pulled more than answered his question.

**H-5-0**


	7. the game 7

**I know I make Rachel to sound really cold and horrible in this one, but I do actually like the character (Sorry Rachel!) It's all for the story! Thanks so much for all the reviews, I'm pleased you're all enjoying it so far. Poor Danny though, right!? Hold on to your hats... :D**

**H-5-0**

Danny was expecting the call.

As soon as he'd flicked on the small flat screen television in his office when they got back, it had dominated all the news channels - the Island Slasher had struck again and had abducted his first victim. The reports, as he'd predicted, focussed heavily on the fact that Grace Collins had been taken from the very same spot that the only survivor, Alison Du Pont had disappeared from twenty four years earlier. 'Experts' hashed out and examined the reasons they thought were behind this chilling so called decision made by the killer, and Danny forcefully hit the mute button when the mention of 'anniversary' came up, throwing the remote onto his desk with a clatter.

Stupid news reporters. It hadn't even been confirmed that this _was_ the Island Slasher! And if it was, well, all the exposure was just feeding the fucking maniac's ego anyway, not to mention scaring the general population.

Shortly after, his cell jingled with Jon Bon Jovi's _It's My Life_ and Danny frowned at the unknown number on his screen.

"Detective Danny Williams."

"Danny? It's... it's Alison."

Rubbing a weary hand over his face, Danny closed his eyes. "Alison. Are you alright?"

"Yes... no... I heard on the news that a woman's been taken, and that she was abducted from Ala Moana Park Drive... like I was. Is that right?" Alison asked a little panicky. Danny leaned forward and rested his elbow on his desk, his free hand massaging the headache threatening to explode right behind his eyes.

"It is, Alison, but... you can't assume anything. It's too early to make any assumptions-"

"What if he comes after me?"

He couldn't deny that that thought had crossed his mind, but the truth was, Alison Du Pont didn't fit the Slasher's basic victim profile now. And if he did go after her, Five-O and the HPD would be waiting for him.

"Alison-"

"I'm scared, Danny... What if he takes me again? I can't go through that again... You have to get him, you have to keep me safe, _please_," she pleaded and Danny pinched the bridged of his nose. He was doing all he could, but he knew how scared she was and found himself promising all that and more.

When she finished the call, Danny rummaged around in his drawer for the large bottle of Tylenol he kept there, and knocked back three with a gulp of cold coffee just as Kono stuck her head in his office to tell him the results of the forensic analysis had come back.

The grit found at the scene on Ala Moana Park Drive only confirmed that the vehicle used in the abduction had recently been into the rainforest, but the rain that night had washed away anything that could have pointed them in the right direction, and with over thirty percent of Oahu forested; they were still at square one. The tire tread in the clay proved that the vehicle was a popular Ford Transit van, one of hundreds currently owned on the island.

Nothing else of use was found at the scene, and searches in the rainforests, on the ground, from the air and even (with thanks to Catherine) thermal satellite imaging, so far hadn't shown up anything either.

Three days later, a second woman, Laura Mamala went missing. Aged eighteen, the trainee tattooist disappeared after an evening shift in downtown Waikiki. Same circumstances; her car was left locked, the time she finished was eleven PM, and a witness mentioned noticing a dark transit van parked in the area moments before. The abduction site was not a duplicate of one that had been used before, like the previous one, and that quickly put paid to the idea of the Slasher maybe playing a sick game of nostalgia.

Mere hours after, it was confirmed without a shadow of a doubt that this was the Island Slasher when Grace Collins' body was found, mutilated and cut up with more than thirty knife wounds, dumped near the Waahila Ridge State Recreation Area four miles away. According to the ME, Max Bergman, she was missing her liver.

A heavy silence filled the Five-O offices as they listened to Max's autopsy report. The results of which revealed that the poor girl had suffered horrifically in the hands of her captor. Disturbing photographs flashed up on the viewer showing her pale flesh sliced open with gaping wounds...

"A good proportion of the wounds were superficial, and would not have caused her to pass out or bleed to death," Max said quietly, clearly affected by the sheer brutality of the murder. "The fatal wounds were ones to her throat, chest and inner thigh, where her femoral artery was severed in two. Her liver was removed post mortem."

Danny closed his eyes and leaned forward, hands on the table, elbows locked. Any of the fatal knife wounds would have ended her life quickly, but the hours of torture before that... He felt his stomach roll and swallowed hard.

Mr and Mrs Collins were still in a state of shock, and Danny couldn't even begin to imagine what they were going through...

...Not for real. Because his daughter was still alive, not dead, not lying in a pool of her own blood on the cold stone floor of a storage locker...

He shook his head, silently berating himself for acting selfishly. This was not about him.

"Kono, interview the witness again," Steve said after a moment. His face reflected the stress they were all feeling, and he roughly rubbed his hand across his mouth. "Chin, talk to the tattoo studio employees and owner, me and Danny will go talk to the family."

Danny's head popped up at the sound of his name, and he quickly nodded and stood up straight. He silently handed the car keys over to Steve without being prompted, and got a quick flash of concern in return.

"Don't, Steve," he warned softly, "Just don't."

Existing only on snatches of sleep plagued with harrowing nightmares, (that now included a disturbing variation where Grace was taken and mutilated to death), and copious amounts of coffee, Danny was riding the very edge of his sanity. All his energy now was focussed on this case, and he just couldn't find it in himself to argue with Steve over who was driving his car, or much of anything for that matter.

Steve, thankfully, let him be. For now.

**H-5-0**

The drive to Kuliouou, where Laura Mamala's parents lived, was quiet and pensive. Steve was becoming increasingly concerned for his partner. Since his birthday, Danny had become a little more subdued, but then, the whole team had with the horrific case they were working on. But with Grace's kidnapping, and Danny still trying to work through the demons in his head, it seemed to be hitting him harder.

Steve didn't like the pale skin, the dark circles under his eyes through lack of sleep... his friend was exhausted and emotionally drained, but at the same time, Danny was determined to push himself to the brink to catch the bastard that was abducting young women and slicing them up

It was who Danny Williams was. A dedicated and committed cop, with a tenacity that bordered on obsession, but it made him damn good at his job. And Steve had relied on that more than once.

Still, it was unsettling to ride in the car with Danny and not even talk. His friend wore his heart on his sleeve, and a quiet Danny, where Steve couldn't read him, didn't sit well with him at all...

"Isn't it your weekend with Grace soon? If you want you could come over to the house... I could take Grace swimming, we could barbeque..." Steve trailed off quietly.

Danny heard the question, but his mind was deliberately focussed on the case. The mention of Grace's name felt like a sharp punch to the gut and he fought to stop himself gasping in pain. It didn't surprise him that Steve knew his visitation schedule, or rather the arrangement he'd _had_ before Rachel had taken it away, and a small tug of regret pulled at him, because he knew how much his partner doted on his little girl, and how much Grace loved her Uncle Steve.

He turned to look out of the window when tears threatened and swallowed roughly over the lump in his throat, eyes darkening when he realised where they were – Summer Street, where Rachel lived, and suddenly it was easy to push everything aside and concentrate on the investigation at hand as Steve drove past the two HPD cruisers and into the driveway of Mr and Mrs Mamala.

"Next time I have Grace, we'll take you up on that, Steve, okay?" Danny murmured and got out of the car leaving Steve behind before he had a chance to hear his answer.

"Okay," Steve whispered into the empty car anyway.

The Mamala's had a huge house, and it reminded Danny of his ex-wife's just down the road. They had two daughters, Laura and ten year old Emily. Both parents were lawyers, and partnered a practice in Honolulu, and they'd set up Laura in her own apartment, while she took a year off school to enjoy and experience life (which included leaning to be a tattooist, apparently), before she went away to the mainland to study law.

While Steve talked to the parents, Danny asked permission to say hello to Emily. She was so much like Grace it made Danny's heart ache. Long brown hair, brown eyes...

He sat down beside her on the patio, under the shade of the palm trees. Emily was feeding lettuce to her pet rabbit, a white fluffy creature with a pink nose and a voracious appetite.

"Hi, my name's Danny, I'm a police officer," he said softly and pointed to the rabbit. "Who's that?"

"His name's Flopsy." Emily turned big brown eyes towards him, "Are you gonna find my sister?"

"We're gonna do everything we can to find her, yes," he answered sincerely. The ensuing silence of the garden was only interrupted by the constant munching of lettuce, and murmurs coming from indoors. Danny reached out to gently stroke the rabbit.

"My daughter's about your age, and she has a rabbit called Mr Hoppy," he smiled fondly. Emily gave Flopsy another leaf.

"Hey, maybe Flopsy and Mr Hoppy could make friends."

"Maybe," Danny nodded. "Hey, d'you know if your sister made any new friends recently?"

Emily shook her head. "No, only her friends from the tattoo studio. That place is so cool," she gushed pulling up the sleeve of her frilly yellow t-shirt. A temporary henna tattoo of a simple dolphin adorned her upper arm. "Laura did this for me, she's so good..."

And then huge tears welled in her eyes and her face scrunched up. Danny pulled her close and comforted her while she cried until her mom came to take her.

Steve held out his hand and pulled Danny to his feet. "Chin's just texted me. Alison Du Pont's in your office."

"What?" Danny frowned. "Is she okay?"

"I don't know. C'mon," Steve said, thanked Mr and Mrs Mamala for their help, and promised to do everything possible to find Laura before leaving.

~o~

"There's another girl been taken?" Alison rushed out as soon as she saw Danny.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Danny verified, although it had hit the news already. "Are you alright? Can I get you some water?"

She sat down and shook her head. "I'm just so scared, Danny. I heard that poor Grace Collins' body has been found."

Quietly nodding, Danny leaned a hip against his desk and folded his arms. "Is there anything you can remember about where you were taken, Alison?" he asked softly. "Anything, however small, could help..."

Pulling her lower lip between her teeth, Alison frowned in frustration. "I can't. It was so long ago." She lifted a hand to brush back her bleach blonde hair, and Danny's eyes caught sight of an old scar on her shoulder when her shawl slipped. It was quickly hidden again when her arm was lowered. "Just... dark and damp and musty. I remember the music, the same music and..."

"What about the van? Can you remember how long you were in the van?"

"No... no, wait. The song, it, maybe, repeated nine, ten times, I think. I'm just not sure. I just remember it being played over and over again..." she said.

"What about when the van stopped? Did you go any further on foot?"

Alison stared at him, and Danny frowned slightly unable to read her. "You okay, Alison?"

"Um... yeah, ah... yeah. When the van stopped, he made me walk a little while and the ground was uneven. I remember stumbling... God, how could I have forgotten that?"

"No, it's alright, this is good, Alison," Danny promised and stood up. "Wait here, I'll be right back."

She watched him hurry into another office and talk to Officer Kalakaua, presumably giving her these new details. Two minutes later, he was back.

"Come on, I'm taking you home," Danny said and escorted Alison safely out of the building.

"I like your car," she smiled as they hit South King Street. "It suits you."

Danny laughed, "It does, huh?" He saw his favourite pretty surf shop sign girl and waggled his fingers at her when the Camaro pulled up at the lights.

"Why does Commander McGarrett drive it?"

The tone of Alison's voice harboured a touch of hostility, but the question just made Danny chuckle harder. Why indeed did Steve insist on driving _his_ car? At least he wasn't the only one that actually wondered that.

"That, my dear, is the sixty four million dollar question," he said. "And one I'd sorely love to know the answer to myself."

Alison waited until the Camaro disappeared around the corner after Danny had dropped her off, before reaching into her Tote bag, pulling out her cell and calling for a cab. She didn't live in this neighbourhood... she didn't want anyone knowing where she lived, not even Detective Danny Williams.

Back at Five-O headquarters, Kono had inputted the new information into the computer and was standing frowning at the results.

"Kono?"

"Danny. So, I calculated the time Alison said she might have been in the van, with a typical speed limit, and the search area is still pretty vast, and that's providing the Slasher is leaving the bodies close to where he takes them to kill them," she said pointing at the Honolulu Forest reserve thinking about where they'd found Grace Collins' body.

"It's all we have to go on."

"Well, this has narrowed our potential search down a little. I'll get details on known bunkers, hideaways in the reserve within walking distance of any roads."

"Thanks, Kono," Danny nodded as he studied the map. "Where's Steve?"

"Danny, I need to use your car!"

Steve's clipped, frustrated voice preceded him through the doors. Kono pulled a face and left Danny to his partner.

"Chicken," he hissed at her when she darted into her office. "Steven. What's up? Someone nicked your secret stash of grenade shaped gummies?"

"Some bastard has let the air out of all my tires," Steve growled and held his hand out. "Keys!"

As the head of Five-O, Steve had made a few enemies on Oahu and it wasn't the first time this had happened to his truck, and certainly couldn't be the last; opportunistic lowlifes out for a little revenge. Danny had suffered the same treatment once or twice too, and he really couldn't find it in himself to feel sorry for them if Steve ever caught the fuckers responsible. Holding the keys up, he snatched them away when Steve reached for them. "Where're you going?"

"Danny-"

"Hey, I only ask because I'd like to get home sometime today, alright?"

"Okay, c'mon, Max says he has something for us," Steve rolled his eyes and held out his hand again. Danny gave him the keys.

"Why is it that I never get to drive my car, huh?" But Steve had already turned and was half way out of the door to have even heard the question. Danny huffed and hurried after him. "I hate him. I hate him so much..."

**H-5-0**

"Max," Steve greeted when they walked into the ME's office.

"Ah, gentlemen. This way," Max nodded. They followed him to where Grace Collins was laid under a sheet on an examination table. Danny's steps slowed and he took a deep breath.

"On closer examination of the body, although I did not find any fingerprints, I did find particulates under her fingernails, and on her feet. I have sent the samples to be analysed."

"You couldn't have told us this over the phone, huh?" Danny asked a little abruptly. Max merely nodded.

"Of course, Detective, but this is not why I called you over here," he answered. Steve frowned at Danny, who just rolled his eyes. Max ignored them, "If you'll direct your attention to the back of Grace's wrist-"

And there was his daughter's name again, associated with these horrific murders... Danny swallowed down the bile that suddenly filled his throat.

Max picked up the limp wrist and twisted it. There were faint red pinprick marks, almost like a rash. He ran a gloved finger over the area. "This is a contact dermatitis which occurs when the skin is exposed to a substance or chemical that causes an allergic reaction, often generating a red rash such as you can see here."

Both Steve and Danny leaned in closer. "You have any idea what caused it?" Steve asked.

"I have determined that Grace Collins came into contact with Passiflora tarminiana, a species of passionfruit, which, you may or may not know, is considered an invasive species in the rainforests of Hawaii," Max said, and then added helpfully, "The yellow fruits resemble small, straight banana's, hence it's more common name of banana passionfruit, and the seeds are dispersed by frugivorous animals. By far the most important disperser in Hawaii is the feral pig, which eats the fallen fruit and then passes the seeds intact. Because their home range is typically one to two square miles, pigs contribute more to the peripheral expansion of Passiflora tarminiana patches than long distance dispersal."

"So, you're saying the pigs eat the fruits and shit the seeds within a certain area?" Danny said waving a hand loosely in front of him, and when max nodded, he asked, "Why didn't you just say that then?"

"I thought I just did," Max blinked confused. Danny rolled his eyes.

"So, can this rash tell us exactly where Grace was taken?" Steve needed to know.

"Unfortunately not, but Passiflora tarminiana grows most rapidly in full sunlight, and only tolerates some shade as the growth is severely restricted at relative light intensities of less than two percent. So, may I suggest you start looking for gaps in the forest canopy where the sun is allowed through, where these plants will thrive," Max finished.

"Thanks Max," Steve nodded. It was a little more, another small piece of the puzzle that would hopefully close the net on this bastard. He pulled out his cell as he and Danny made their way back to the car.

"Yeah, Kono, research a species of passionfruit called Passiflora tarminiana, and find out where there are concentrated growths in the forest reserve close to any roads," he instructed.

"Copy that, boss," Kono said and signed off.

Danny's phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out and stared at it. Just looking at the name on the screen made his head start pounding again. He hit ignore and shoved it back into his pocket.

"Wrong number?" Steve asked.

God, he wished... "No, Rachel's weasel lawyer," he muttered and climbed into the car, not even bothering to argue about the fact that Steve still had his keys.

"Is everything alright with her and Grace?"

Christ, what a loaded question. Nothing was alright. Not with Rachel, Grace, the whole situation... "Yeah, just legal shit Rachel thinks I have time to waste on right now," he said bitterly. It was almost right, apart from the bit where he _never_ wanted to deal with it, because it meant signing away his rights to his daughter.

"Anything I can help with?"

_Can you turn back time, Steve? Can you stop Peterson from kidnapping Grace? Stop him from making me shoot Stan? Can you reason with Rachel to not take Grace away from me? Can you make my daughter not be afraid of me?_

The questions whirled around his head like a merry-go-round, making him feel sick, but in the end he just shook his head, hardened the walls around himself and simply said, "No, you can't."

**H-5-0**


	8. the game 8

**Out early tomorrow, so posting next part tonight. Enjoy :D Bx **

**H-5-0**

Victim number three disappeared in broad daylight, while she was on her lunch hour.

"He's devolving," Danny muttered thinking about the sudden change in the killer's MO. This time there were witnesses that identified the dark blue Ford Transit van in the hour before she went missing, and the call to HPD was made within moments of her boyfriend realising she didn't show for a lunch date.

She'd been snatched within twenty four hours of Laura Mamala's disappearance.

"He's taking risks and making mistakes, and this is why we're gonna catch him this time," Steve added.

Chin pulled up the details and the pretty face of Lilia Hin, a twenty one year old local with short auburn hair and green eyes. Danny dropped the file he'd been holding and stared at the photograph.

"Oh God," he breathed, his hand rubbing over his mouth. Everyone frowned at him concerned.

"You know her?" Kono asked.

Shaking his head, Danny bit his lips, "Not really, but... Steve, this is the girl that holds the sign for that surf shop ten minutes from here."

Steve's eyes flew to the photograph again as Danny left for his office muttering about Tylenol and a motherfucker of a headache.

"Chin, take Kono, get down to the surf place, Aloha Board Shop, South King Street," Steve said remembering where he'd seen her, "Witness statements, _anything_... I want this bastard..." He dragged his fingers through his hair making it stick up. "Me and Danny will go talk to her family."

He made his was to Danny's office as Chin and Kono rushed out of the building. Danny was sat, head in his hands, on his sofa.

"What's going on with you, Danno?"

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose and massaged his temples.

"This case... it's... I'm finding personal angles every which way I look, okay, and it's throwing me off balance, and I don't like it," he said, his hand punctuating his point.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked. He sat down and leaned forward, elbows balancing on his knees. He remembered what Danny had said when they'd first reopened the case months ago, but since then nothing had been found to back up a personal connection with any of the killings. But Danny was obviously agitated about something...

Blowing out a huge breath, Danny stood and started to pace. "Victim number one. Her name is Grace-"

"Coincidence, Danny, it's a popular name," Steve interjected. Danny waved the comment off with his hand and carried on.

"Victim number two. Her sister happens to be a ten year old who looks uncannily like my daughter, lives on Summer Street, like my daughter, and has a pet white rabbit, _like my daughter!_"

Steve stayed quiet this time.

"And now, victim number three happens to be the girl I tend to wave at every day I drive past her," Danny finished off, his fists on his hips. He looked at Steve and grimaced. "You think I'm being paranoid, don't you?"

"Look, Danny, we're all stressed with this case," Steve said calmly, "And it's not helped you that you're already dealing with the fallout from Grace's kidnapping-"

"Hey, that has nothing to do with this, okay?" Danny shouted making Steve jump and narrow his eyes. "No, don't you make that face, Steven, do not analyse me!"

Holding his hands up, Steve shook his head. "Not analysing you, Danny. All I'm saying is that maybe you're seeing personal connections with this case because you're exhausted." He waited a beat before carrying on, "You've no connection to the Island Slasher, have you? No. It's just coincidence, Danno..."

Danny seemed to deflate a little and he rested his butt against his desk, leaning back with his hands. The white knuckled grip didn't go unnoticed by Steve.

"Yeah, maybe. C'mon, we need to get this bastard, because I need to sleep for a week," Danny sighed and pushed himself standing again.

~o~

Talking with Lilia Hin's parents served to just let them know that Five-O and the HPD were doing everything they could to find their daughter. As with all the families of the abducted women interviewed, they couldn't really help.

It was late by the time they all got back to HQ, but none were eager to get home. So with a fresh pot of coffee brewing, the team sat around the table and went over everything – again.

"Lilia took her lunch break at noon, and witnesses put her at the burger place on the corner of McCully Street shortly after that. The Ford Transit van was spotted on Young Street. Looks like he was waiting for her," Chin said reading from his report.

Kono rubbed at her eyes. Talking to the witnesses and surf shop employees, they still had very little to go on. Even breaking his MO and abducting Lilia in broad daylight, the bastard was still faceless and unidentifiable.

She glanced up at Steve's office where he was talking with the Governor on the phone and chewed on her lip. She could tell her boss had a headache from where she was sitting, by the way he kept rubbing his forehead, and sighed, flinging the folder she had in her hands onto the table.

Danny looked at her and was just about to ask if she was alright when his cell jingled Jon Bon Jovi in his pocket. He closed his mouth and pulled out his phone, wincing when the unknown number he recognised as Alison's flashed on the screen. Standing, he held it to his ear and walked into his office.

"The Governor wants me at the next press conference," Steve muttered when he joined them again. Governor Denning had been assuming that role since the abduction on Grace Collins, but as the case escalated, and more victims had been taken, the press had insisted that the leader of the Crime Task Force, Five-O, answer questions himself, because the people of Hawaii needed to hear exactly what was being done to keep them safe.

He sat down and closed his eyes. God knows how he was going to answer the questions he didn't have the answers to yet himself.

Chin's cell bleeped and his brows rose. "Oh, hey, we may have caught a break," he muttered and stood up. Kono and Steve quickly followed him over to the smart table.

"Results on the particulates from Grace Collins' body have come back," he said keying in data into the computer. "Traces of Kōpiko fruit and hāpu'u ferns along with red clay were present, and cross reference this with Kono's research on the Passiflora tarminiana concentrated areas in the reserve and..."

They watched as highlighted areas on the map on the screen shrunk in size. It looked like they'd finally caught a break.

"Kono, coordinate all searches to these areas," Steve quickly ordered while calling Catherine on his cell. "You guys head up the teams... Catherine."

Both Chin and Kono disappeared into their offices to make the necessary calls before grabbing their tac vests and weapons. And within moments, they'd disappeared. Time was of the essence now if they wanted to find both Lilia Hin and Laura Mamala alive...

~o~

"Alison, listen-"

Danny tried his best to calm the woman on the other end of his call down, but she was working her way into a panic attack.

"But he's taken another girl, right? In broad daylight? So soon after the last one?" she repeated again. "Has her body been found yet?"

"Whose body?" Danny frowned, but he just assumed it was fear talking. "No body has been found, and it's-"

"Don't be naive, Danny!"

The harsh shout pulled Danny up short and he narrowed his eyes. "Alison. You have to calm down, and-"

"It's not over, it'll never be over. Can't you see that? All those girls... Grace. That little girl's big sister, you know, the one with the white rabbit? Now this one snatched off the streets of Honolulu in the middle of the day?"

"We're doing everything we can, Alison, I promise," Danny insisted. He paced the office and looked up, frowning slightly when he saw the war room empty.

"It's not enough though," Alison persisted. "What if it's that pretty Officer Kalakaua next? Or even your daughter, Danny? No one is safe!"

Twisting around at the very mention of his daughter, Danny clenched his fist tight and ground his teeth. He blew out a breath and very calmly said, "Look, I have to go. I'm sorry," before clicking off the cell.

Jesus, he knew he shouldn't have done that, knew that Alison was just scared, but with the nightmares already frying his nerves, he couldn't cope with the very real idea that Grace, or Kono, could be taken by the Slasher.

He leaned forward on his desk and hung his head, trying to calm his breathing. The silence in the room was suddenly interrupted by Steve, and Danny stood up a little too fast, the air around him spinning for a split second.

"Whoa, Danny," Steve said and rushed forward, gripping Danny's bicep to steady him. "You okay, man?" He really didn't like how pale his partner looked and frowned when Danny shrugged him off.

"Yeah," he muttered and turned away, rubbing a heavy hand over his face. "I take it we caught a break?"

The lack of Five-O personnel in the building was telling and Danny reached for his gun and vest. Steve, however, stopped him.

"Yeah, we caught a break but," he sat Danny down in his chair. "You're gonna sit this out right now and rest. Eat and rest. Understand?"

"Don't be stupid, Steven, I'm fine and I need to be out there," Danny countered quickly with a scowl. "What break?"

With a sigh, Steve gave him a brief update on what they'd found, and how they'd been able to reduce the search grid in the rainforest. "Kono and Chin are on the way there to head up the search teams, and I'm... late for a press conference," he frowned as he checked his watch. "Stay here, Danny, I'm serious. You're exhausted and you're no good to anyone if you collapse. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Danny eventually said and watched Steve rush out. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, staring at the photograph of Grace on his desk.

He wished he could see her, talk to her, just to hear her voice, but he knew he couldn't and his heart ached painfully in his chest.

Alison's words echoed around his head again, _"All those girls... Grace. That little girl's big sister, you know, the one with the white rabbit? Now this one snatched off the streets of Honolulu in the middle of the day?"_

To hell with paranoia, Danny just couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. It felt like ice shards slicing into his gut, and he couldn't ignore it any longer. With a heave, he pushed himself forward and brought up the case files on his computer screen, concentrating on the lead detectives – the four that had since disappeared and the two that committed suicide, and once again started looking for _any_ connection he could find with the victims, _anything_.

Two hours later, Danny slammed down the folder in his hand and growled in frustration.

Nothing. Absolutely fucking _nothing_!

"I really am being paranoid," he laughed humourlessly, and then narrowed his eyes at one of the crime scene photographs scattered on his desk. He picked it up and stared at it. "Oh my God..."

It was from the investigation of Brittany Cole's abduction, a twenty year old Oahu boutique employee who turned out to be the Slasher's twentieth victim in 2000. The glossy ten by eight was of a wide shot of the crime scene, showing a good portion of the crowd, taped off and held back by the HPD. The lead detective in 2000 was Kona Hekekia, and Danny could see the man clearly in the photograph comforting a young woman. He grabbed his computer mouse and quickly clicked on the images of the victims from that July, finally stopping on one picture.

Kalena Reeves. That same young woman was victim number six.

Remembering what Kono had discovered about the small scratches on the wrists of the sixth victims, he pulled up that image too and blew out a long breath. Crudely sliced into the delicate skin were the initials K.H.

Danny rubbed a hand over his face. Was it a coincidence? He carefully checked other photographs but didn't find anything else. If there was a connection between the victims and the lead detective on each case, they were personal and subtle, just like the unassuming links Danny had found between himself and the victims this time.

Deciding he needed more coffee, he stood up, stretched his stiff back and headed into the break room. The carafe was empty and he rolled his eyes with a suffering sigh before refilling the machine with ground beans and water. The smell of percolating Kona was worth it though. Danny liked that smell. It ranked right up there with freshly mowed grass and his Grace's coconut scented hair after her shower.

Grace. The memory of her smile hit him hard and he leaned against the small counter and hung his head. Any thought of rifling through the fridge for food now gone, along with any appetite.

Instead he filled his mug with strong black coffee and took it back to his office, his gait weaving and a little slow. Stopping by the smart table, he looked up to see the latest crime scene photo's on two of the three screens, and couldn't help but stare. Christ, they needed to get this bastard...

And then he saw her. Danny squinted hard, but was her. He recognised the large sunhat and huge sunglasses first. Putting his coffee on the table, he zoomed in, and stared even harder. Alison Du Pont had been there watching the scene at Ala Moana Park Drive.

A flash memory made him suck in a breath. Danny remembered seeing her there, under the small copse of trees. And if she was there, was she at the other crime scenes too? He was just about to check when...

"Um, I'm looking for Detective Chin Ho Kelly?"

Looking up, Danny saw a young officer standing in his doorway with a package in his hands.

"Ah, he's out at the moment. I'm Detective Danny Williams, I can take that for you," he said and turned around. The officer handed him the package, Danny signed for it, and with a smile the young man left. When Danny looked at what he had in his hands, his eyes widened.

They were the court sealed files on one Jacqui Calloway, also known as Alison Du Pont.

**H-5-0**


	9. the game 9

**Hi, thanks for the great feedback! So, things get a little clearer now I hope :D**

**H-5-0**

Within an hour of arriving, Chin had discovered the body of Laura Mamala hidden beneath a pile of freshly cut fern fronds. She'd been tortured like Grace Collins, and at first glance had died from the fatal stab wounds to her heart and throat. A gaping hole in her torso also suggested an organ had been removed too, but they'd have to wait for the autopsy to determine which one.

Needless to say that the find upset everyone there and hindered the search a little as the crime scene then had to be processed.

Kono continued leading teams into the rainforest looking for Lilia Hin, and was soon joined by Chin. They searched until the light failed them and finally had to head back.

"We're so close, yet we seem to be getting nowhere," Kono sighed following Chin down through a gap in the trees. Their teams had gone on ahead leaving the two Five-O members to take up the rear.

"At least we have more to go on than they did in the past, cuz," Chin nodded, because they needed that incentive.

"True."

From the dark hiding place amidst the dense cover of plants nearby, cold, dark eyes watched Chin and Kono's every move. Their conversation was carried on the warm, moist air that flowed around them, and a decision was made.

It was time to change the rules of The Game. They were getting too close too soon.

**H-5-0**

Danny read the report in his hand in silence, tense lines creasing his forehead as he frowned hard at the words.

_Presents with a personality disorder marked by aggressive, violent, antisocial thought and behaviour, and a lack of remorse or empathy_.

According to the files, shortly after her sister and mother had died and Alison had been taken into foster care, she started acting out in the most destructive and sadistic way. She had vicious mood swings, often lashing out at other kids, and the police had to be called on numerous occasions when Alison used ruthless force. She certainly didn't mix well with others and repeatedly violently alienated anyone that tried to befriend her. But when the foster family's pet Dalmatian, along with other domestic pets in the neighbourhood, was found brutally slaughtered and dismembered by her, Alison was taken out of care and placed in an institution for three years.

Her psychiatrist worked hard with her, and eventually Alison was declared fit for release at aged seventeen. She was emancipated at her own request as she apparently felt guilty for putting her foster family through hell, and didn't want to upset them anymore than she already had.

"Jesus Christ," Danny breathed, wiping at his mouth, and the missing pieces of the puzzle finally started slipping into place.

He hurried back to the smart table and started up the facial recognition software, setting it to search for Alison Du Pont in all the crime scene images taken since 1988. When he hit start, the computer immediately started throwing up results.

Photograph after photograph, she was there in the crowd. Every four years, every July. Danny frowned. Why July? And then it hit him like a wet slap. It was so obvious! Her mother and sister died Independence Day weekend. July!

The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. She was injecting herself into the investigation. She needed to be there at each crime scene to be a part of the whole... game.

But it was her eyes more than anything that convinced Danny, her eyes in each photograph she was captured in not wearing sunglasses. They were dark and cold and mirrored an evil, perverse pleasure at the frightening attention she was ultimately creating, like she was feeding off the fear around her.

The profile of the Island Slasher was right except for one thing, it wasn't a man, it was a woman.

It was Alison Du Pont.

Danny frowned pulling his lips between his teeth. But she was the sixth victim in 1988. Fuck... the perfect cover. She wasn't just a sociopath, she was a criminal mastermind, an evil genius so vile and despicable that the very air around her soured in malevolence. It made Danny sick to think that he'd actually comforted her.

He grabbed his cell and growled when Steve's went straight to voicemail. The press conference with the Governor. Of course. Chin thankfully picked up and Danny quickly filled him and Kono in on what he'd found as he rushed from the office and headed out to the HPD to take the files over himself.

En route, he tried the unknown number that Alison had used to contact him. It was no longer in service. He slammed his hand on the steering wheel.

They'd had her. Twice. _In the Five-O offices!_ Fuck!

It was late when Danny walked into the Honolulu Police Department. Sergeant Duke Lukela was still on duty and he greeted him with a confused and worried frown.

"Is everything alright, Detective Williams?"

"Yeah. Listen, I need an APB on Alison Du Pont right now," Danny said giving Duke an armful of files. "Details, photographs, okay? She's the Island Slasher. Get uniforms over to this address," he added quickly scribbling down the street address of where he'd dropped her off that day.

"What?"

"Trust me. We don't have time to waste, Duke. She's extremely dangerous and fucking devious. If she's found, approach with caution and don't listen to whatever shit she says, alright?" Danny said sternly, his fist pounding the desk earnestly.

"But I thought she was a victim herself," Duke frowned looking wide eyed at the files, swearing under his breath at the places Danny had highlighted. "Is this a court sealed file?"

"Huh? Oh no, she's no victim... and yes, that's her juvenile file." He turned to leave, needing to get back to Five-O. "Get the APB out, and be careful, alright?"

And then he was gone, leaving Duke rushing to get the APB out on the Island Slasher.

~o~

Danny tried Steve's cell again, and swore when it went to voicemail once more. "Steve, for fuck's sake, would it kill ya to answer your phone? Call me asap. Alison is the Slasher."

He gunned the Camaro back to Iolani Palace and parked with a screech of brakes, looking around the dark streets before getting out. His paranoia was making him uneasy and he could feel eyes on him, from every corner of the world. Was she watching him? Fuck, if she was, just how long had she been doing it?

And then he faltered in his step.

"_Your daughter, right?"_

"_Yes."_

Oh God, she _knew_ his daughter. She knew Grace...

"_...That little girl's big sister, you know, the one with the white rabbit..."_

Danny's jaw locked, his lungs seizing. The bitch had deliberately picked those three women because of the subtle connection he had with them, probably stalked them too... Jesus, was this her sick Game?

"Fuck... _Fuck!_"

And then it hit home, like a bullet to the chest... _"What if it's that pretty Officer Kalakaua next? Or even your daughter, Danny? No one is safe!"_

Dragging a hand through his hair, Danny wheezed out a breath, a desperate hitch catching in his throat. Was that another subtle clue? Were Kono and his Gracie next on her list?

He pulled out his cell on the steps of Iolani Palace and held it in his trembling hand, thumb poised over Rachel's contact number. But he couldn't make himself press it. It'd be another nail in his coffin, but hell, this was his daughter's _life_!

Closing his eyes, he knew Grace was probably safer with Rachel than she would be with him right now, as his ex-wife rarely let her daughter out of her sight now-a-days, and Stan's security was top notch ever since that incident with Bruce Hoffman, so although it felt like a crushing vice around his heart and every tangible thread of common sense screamed at him that he was doing the wrong thing, he moved his thumb away and lowered the phone.

Hell, he wasn't even sure if it was a clue directed at him by the bitch, and causing panic now would do more harm than good. For all Danny knew it was just another ploy to taunt him, mess with his head. Grace was already afraid of him, Rachel already thought he was too dangerous to be in his daughter's life... No, Danny knew the only way to protect his precious baby girl was to do his job and catch Alison Du Pont.

As for Kono, well she was with the team most of the time, and he knew Chin and Steve would make sure she was safe...

But what the ever living _fuck_?! With fingers tightening around his cell, he turned and rushed up to the Five-O headquarters.

His cell jingled with the Village People's 'In The Navy', and while normally it always made him chuckle to hear the ring tone he'd selected for Steve's number sing away on his cell, right then he couldn't even find the energy to acknowledge the joke.

"Alison Du Pont's the Island Slasher?!" Steve immediately yelled making Danny quickly yank his cell away from his ear. "Where is she?"

"HPD have an APB out for her, Steve," Danny reported walking into the Five-O offices. "Where are you?"

"Right behind you."

The echo of Steve's voice surrounded him in stereo when he turned and saw his partner barrel through the doors. He looked frazzled, for want of a better word, and felt a touch of empathy for him because he knew all too well how vicious a press conference could get.

"Did you try to contact her?" Steve asked and Danny valiantly refrained from rolling his eyes and stopped the sarcastic "D'oh, why didn't I think of that?!" from tripping off his tongue.

"Number's out of service." Danny ignored the frustrated growl and turned to Chin. "Can you trace it?"

"I'll try, but if it was a burner and no longer in use... then..." he winced but took Danny's cell anyway. He and Kono were already in the HQ standing at the smart table going over what Danny had discovered when the guys arrived.

"Man, I never saw this comin'," Kono muttered as she went through the photographs of Alison at each crime scene. She clicked on a link and the new images of Laura Mamala's mutilated body flashed up. Danny sighed heavily and leaned over, his hands on his knees.

They'd lost another one.

"Where'd you find her?" he asked dully standing up straight again.

"About six klicks north west off Nuuanu Pali Drive," Kono answered quietly. "She was hidden under a pile of fern fronds."

"Hidden? Not exposed like the others?" Steve noted. Each and every other body had been out in the open, easy to find. This could mean that the Slasher wasn't ready to reveal Laura's body yet. It could mean that they maybe had been really close to where _she_ was taking them.

"There are no listed bunkers or hideaways in that area, and we didn't find anything in the short time we had to search," Kono said. "CSU took what they could, but it was a mess out there."

"Right, we'll get back there at sunrise. Kono get the Search and Rescue dogs on scene too," Steve nodded. It was too late and too dark to go out there now, and he just prayed that Lilia Hin could wait a little longer.

Chin handed Danny his cell back with a shake of his head. "No luck. Couldn't trace it," he murmured. "You have a text, brah."

Frowning, Danny looked at the screen and clicked the text open. It was from Rachel's lawyer. His gut twisted and he felt nauseous. It had been sent earlier, but he'd never even noticed. He opened it and silently read the message.

-_Reminder. Grace Williams preliminary custody hearing at 8am. Kapolei Courthouse, Family Court. Arrive 30mins early._

"Danny," Steve murmured, lightly touching his friend's arm to get his attention. "Everything okay?"

"Huh?" Danny looked up to see his team watching him. "Ah, yeah... yeah."

"So, tomorrow, I'll pick you up at five am-"

"What?" Danny blinked. Tomorrow? What?

Turning to face his partner fully, Steve looked hard at him. "You sure you're alright, Danno?" he asked softly.

Danny nodded and shoved his cell back into his pocket. Behind Steve he could see the concerned faces of Chin and Kono and plastered on a hopefully convincing smile. But it felt brittle and fragile, like he'd shatter like glass if he tried any harder.

"Yeah, man, just tired, y'know?"

The fact that Danny hadn't bitched about him being in his personal space made Steve uneasy. He glanced over his shoulder and cocked his head, silently suggesting Chin and Kono leave for the night. They both nodded, and went to collect their stuff.

"Yeah, I should be going too," Danny muttered flatly, but it was a long moment until he actually made to move. Steve's concern notched up to intense. But he let Danny walk into his office alone and waited for Chin and Kono to leave.

"He okay?" Chin asked quietly.

What with everything that Danny was dealing with; the fallout with Grace's kidnapping, shooting Stan Edwards, and the fact that he hadn't had much time with his daughter since then, (because Steve had noticed that), and then the stress of the Island Slasher case on top, Danny was anything but okay.

But Steve was beginning to fear how not-alright his friend actually was.

"I don't know," he answered honestly. Chin squeezed Steve's forearm in support before he and Kono left the building.

When he looked into Danny's office, Steve saw the man standing looking a little lost, staring at the photo of his daughter that stood proudly in the centre of his desk. He walked in and leaned on the doorjamb, thumbs hooked loosely in his belt loops of his cargo pants.

"Hey," he murmured softly. "Wanna come back to mine for beers? I have some left over Ahi Tuna Poke. Did you eat?"

It was ridiculously late, and they had to be at the crime scene in a matter of hours, but Danny looked like he needed a beer and some company.

Grabbing his car keys, Danny shook his head. "As much as raw fish appeals," he grimaced ruefully, "Rain check, babe?"

"Yeah, sure," Steve sighed. But no, he couldn't let it go. He stood up straight and stepped closer. Danny looked up at him and Steve winced at the immense sadness clouding his friend's blue eyes.

Jesus, what was going on with him?

"Steve, I have to go," Danny said pointedly when Steve didn't move out of the way. He had to leave, he needed to get his head straight, prepare a statement for the hearing, he needed to run... needed to get out of there before he came apart at the seams... "Hey, it's a great impression of a door you got going on here, SuperSEAL, but seriously, I do have to go..."

"Danny-"

Steve's tone cut deep, and Danny knew he was too close to the edge to 'talk' with him right now. He felt like an ass for cutting his best friend off like that, but... No, not yet... maybe even never... "Please, Steve, don't," he whispered, pleaded. He turned away for a second to recompose his mask, then said, "Oh and I'm gonna have to step back from the search and rescue tomorrow morning. I'll meet you there later."

Frowning, Steve's eyes fell on the telltale shape of the cell in Danny's pants pocket. The text. "What? Why?"

"I have a thing," Danny hedged, his eyes lowering slightly.

"A thing?" Steve repeated, a shade of Aneurism Face making a guest appearance. "You have a _thing_?" Danny stayed silent which just ratcheted up Steve's frustration level further. He hated being in the dark, hated that Danny felt he couldn't trust him to help him through whatever shit he was dealing with, but Steve needed his partner on this case. What the hell?! "You have a thing more important than catching the Island Slasher and finding Lilia Hin? Huh?"

It was out before Steve could stop it and he instantly wished he could take back the words, but the apology stuck in his throat when he saw Danny's face close off and the hurt flash in his eyes.

Danny knew they were all exhausted, hell, even Super SEALs needed to sleep sometime, and knew Steve was just frustrated with their lack of progress with trying to catch the Slasher, but the words hurt more than Danny expected them to. Maybe he was just simply too fucking tired... more likely it was because he was so close to losing it, so close to crawling inside a bottle and never coming out... so fucking close to seeing that hollow tipped bullet as his only way to end the torment, end the pain...

He squared his shoulders, pulled his lips into a grim line and pushed his way past Steve.

"Hey!" Steve shouted, spinning around with an angry scowl. Danny stopped, his back to his partner.

"I have to be in court tomorrow morning, Steven," he said quietly. "I have to be in court because I'm going to lose my daughter."

Steve stood and gaped, shocked. The words barely registered, they were spoken so softly, so wretchedly, but his mind quickly snapped alert and _Oh Jesus Christ..._

He knew something was wrong, had known for a while, but he never even anticipated it was that serious, that Rachel would sue for full custody... take Danny's daughter away from him.

Steve watched as his friend walked out, ignoring his pained "Danny..." But what could Steve really offer? Danny's body language practically screamed 'leave me alone', and even though he knew his partner was hurting, and wanted to be there for him, support him, Steve saw the image of Lilia Hin on the computer screen in the war room and felt himself painfully torn.

**H-5-0**


	10. the game 10

**Getting down to the nitty-gritty... :D Thanks ever-so for all your wonderful feedback, guys! *hugs***

**H-5-0**

"_...Their small town eyes will gape at you in dull surprise when payment due exceeds accounts received, at seventeen. To those of us who knew the pain..."_

Alison turned up the volume and sang along, drowning out the desperate muffled cries from the bound and gagged woman in the back of her Transit Van. She obediently stuck to the speed limit and as soon as the traffic on the road disappeared, she flicked off her headlights, exited the highway and drove the remainder of the way in darkness, knowing the contours of the narrow road by heart.

"Nearly there," she shouted to her passenger, turning the van into an opening between the dense trees, stopping a moment later.

The sounds of the rainforest at night flooded the van when Alison opened her door. She smiled, turned to her trussed up companion and said jovially, "Back in a jiff, you wait here!"

As soon as her captor disappeared, Lilia Hin immediately started struggling in her bonds, but just couldn't get free. She cried harder.

Alison pulled her jacket closed against the cool night air, made her way back to the opening between the trees and manipulated the foliage and branches to disguise the fact that she'd just driven a Ford Transit Van through it, and then hurried back to her victim.

The trail narrowed and she carefully, with practised ease, slowed down and pushed on through the low hanging flora and the twigs that scraped along the sides of her van, until she came to a space hidden within the thick ferns and tropical plants.

With a big smile, she cut the engine, reached for her Tote bag and climbed into the back with Lilia, pulling out a soft cloth and a bottle.

"Sorry, honey," she shrugged pouring the clear liquid onto the cloth. "Gotta knock you out a little while. Can't have you spoiling my fun. It's only chloroform. Won't hurt you..."

And with that, Alison firmly pressed the soaked cloth against Lilia's face and waited for the struggles to stop.

It paid to be a veterinary assistant. She had access to some wonderful stuff!

Alison opened the back of the van and got out, pulling her victim along with her. "Up we go," she huffed and hoisted Lilia over her shoulder, anchoring her with one hand and grabbing her bag with the other. Even slightly built, Alison had always made sure she stayed fit. Always made sure she picked young, slim victims that weighed no more than a hundred pounds so she could heft them to her secret hideaway in the rainforest.

Making her way down the dark, damp passageway of the cave she'd found years ago, she felt the adrenalin rushing through her. The smell of lavender oil and camphor didn't quite mask the scent of decay, but God, if she could bottle that smell, she'd wear it as perfume.

"Marie, I'm home," she called when she reached a small cavern, hidden far inside the cave. Dropping Lilia on a fresh pile of banana passionfruit leaves on the floor and flicking on a torch, Alison rushed to the beautifully carved mahogany coffin at the centre of an ornately decorated altar. "You miss me?" She pulled off a glove and lovingly stroked a finger along the brow ridge of the desiccated and decomposed skull, picking away the lilted wreath of hibiscus flowers.

Thirty one years ago, when she and Marie were only twelve years old, their mother took them on a hiking vacation for Independence Day. Alison remembered how much she'd been excited, because she and Marie loved the outdoors, loved camping... but that excitement quickly turned to fear and horror when during their first night, their mother, stinking of alcohol, took the long, sharp knife she was using to slice open the passion fruit they'd picked, and attacked them with it.

Alison could still hear the screams Marie had made when her mom had plunged the knife into her belly. She could still see the blood... so much blood... spill all over the forest floor...

She couldn't remember picking up the rock, though. She couldn't remember smashing it over her mom's head, but she must have done because the next thing she _did_ know with certainty was that her mom was dead, and she was cradling her beloved sister in her arms and watching as the life drained away from her.

Leaving her mom to be eaten by the native animals, Alison buried her sister and used the knowledge she'd learned in books about Oahu and its rainforests to disguise her grave as best she could, so that Marie could rest in peace.

"Seven years later, sweetie," Alison murmured as she carefully strung together a fresh wreath of flowers from her bag. She looked down at the decayed corpse of her sister, and smiled. The fresh liver and pancreas she'd taken from Grace Collins and Laura Mamala sat in their rightful place – the same location as in Alison's own body – snug within the dirty bones.

"Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one," she sing-songed placing the finished string of hibiscus on her sister's skull. She stood and walked over to the old record player she had, cranked the handle and gently placed the needle on the spinning vinyl disc.

"_I learned the truth at seventeen that love was meant for beauty queens..."_

"Do you remember this, Marie?" Alison said pulling a matchbook from her jeans pocket and lighting candles around the altar and the cavern. She sang along, "_'The valentines I never knew, the Friday night charades of youth were spent on one more beautiful...'_ Oh yeah, sing with me, Marie... _'At seventeen I learned the truth, and those of us with ravaged faces, lacking in the social graces...'_"

She danced around the unconscious body of Lilia on the ground, grabbing her knife as she past it. "Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!" she repeated, something her psychiatrist had worked on with her, something to calm her anger, help her deal with life... something Alison had then twisted to her own cruel agenda. "Seven years, Marie. Seven years before we began. Six victims; always six victims. Five organs for you, my sister. Four years rest until it was time to start again. Three islands, and we chose Oahu, Hawaii and Maui, didn't we? Two sisters, me and you! And one cop."

She came to standstill in front of a wall covered with photographs of Danny and Grace and the whole Five-O task force. Reaching out, she plucked one off and grinned at it. It was of Danny smiling widely at Grace outside her school. "One cop to break. And you, my dear Detective Williams, are my favourite one to date. So much fun, so easy to play," she told the picture, shrugging at the four jars she had in a line on the floor, "Sorry boys."

A breathy, pained moan caught her attention and she looked down at Lilia sluggishly coming around. This victim hadn't been pre-chosen, but as soon as Alison had seen Danny smiling at her, she easily made an exception. Taking this one in broad daylight wasn't the norm, but the variety just made The Game more exciting!

"Welcome back," Alison smiled and knelt down by her. She put the glove back on and removed Lilia's gag. "You okay?"

"P-please," Lilia sobbed, tears streaming down her face, squinting in the glow of the candles. She caught sight of the jars and started hyperventilating, shivering violently in the cool damp air and panicking even more.

"Hang on." Alison got up and rummaged around in her bag. She held a syringe in front of Lilia's face. "Hold still," she warned and plunged the needle into the girl's vein in her trembling arm before Lilia could even protest. "You'll not be able to move, but don't worry, because you'll still be awake and be able to feel everything. You'll know just how my beloved Marie felt when she was so cruelly taken from me..."

The screams died in Lilia's throat when Alison brandished the knife and grinned evilly. Whatever paralysing drug she'd been injected with was working fast and she closed her eyes, only to panic when they easily fell open again.

The first cut was excruciating, white hot pain searing through the muscle of her thigh, and Lilia screamed inside her head.

"For you, Marie," she crooned softly, slowly pushing the blade into the soft tissue of Lilia's belly. "For you, my sister."

Alison closed her eyes and savoured the thrill of torturing another life to the brink of death, and then beyond. The record player stopped and she smiled as the arm automatically lifted and lowered the needle back onto the vinyl again.

"_I learned the truth at seventeen that love was meant for beauty queens..."_

The melodic tune drifted through the small cavern as Alison took her time plunging the eight inch knife into Lilia's flesh over and over again...

**H-5-0**

Flicking through the unopened mail on his table, Danny frowned at the official letter from Rachel's lawyer. It was probably the one about the hearing in the morning, and Danny ripped it open. The words were precise and smart, and he sighed as the headache he'd been nursing for days, weeks even, now started pounding again. God, how was he going to prepare a statement that could make Rachel change her mind? What the hell could he say to make a judge see reason and tell his ex that no, she shouldn't, _couldn't_ take his daughter away from him?

There was nothing, other than what he felt in his heart. He loved Grace. She was his whole life, and he'd do anything for her... and that included letting her go if that's what Grace wanted.

He sighed and sat down. Danny desperately needed to sleep, if anything to be fresh and on his game in the court room, but his head was throbbing with the turmoil of everything crashing around him. He needed to clear it.

Stripping off, Danny pulled on his shorts, T-shirt and running shoes, grabbed his keys and left the apartment in darkness.

By the time he arrived back, he managed to collapse on his couch for an hour until it was light, and then he dragged his sweating, aching body into the shower before getting ready for the custody hearing.

~o~

The courthouse was big and bright, and nearly the opposite of the old, stuffy place they'd used in New Jersey after the divorce and Danny was at least grateful for the air conditioning, as he was bone tired and felt absolutely drained. Even so, he couldn't shake the dread of what was coming, and the walls still felt like they were closing in on him... As always though, he projected a mask of professionalism and hid his exhaustion behind a semblance of competence, and a smart suit and tie. And that helped when he heard Rachel's clipped heals approach, her face a blank expression of determination.

"Daniel," she said curtly. Danny gave her a tight smile, and she narrowed her assessing eyes at him. There was a moment of concern that flashed across her face, but it was quickly pushed away.

"Rachel," Danny nodded. He saw the fleeting look and forced his mask to hold even more. He couldn't afford to let his ex see how he really felt, that this was tearing him apart, because he was scared that she'd twist it and use that against him, too. Looking up, he asked softly, "Where's Grace?"

Rachel gave him an _are-you-serious_ look and raised an eyebrow. "I hardly think this is the place for our daughter, Daniel. Do you?" she hissed under her breath, then added, "She's at home with Stan."

Danny looked down and nodded. Of course he knew that, this was no place for a child, but he just needed to know Grace was safe.

"Edwards versus Williams in the custody case of Grace Williams," the court administrator announced from the door of the Family Court.

This was it. This was the moment he was going to lose his daughter, and Danny turned towards the door, took a deep breath and, feeling like a man about to walk the _green mile_, followed Rachel into the room.

**H-5-0**

Even for Steve, who was used to being up at all hours of the day, it felt too damn early. He'd managed maybe three hours sleep before his alarm sounded, because thoughts of his friend had plagued him relentlessly. The sun was up, but the morning mist made everything damp and cool, and he wrapped his fingers around the hot coffee Kono had thrust into his hands as soon as he'd arrived at the crime scene in the rainforest.

His thoughts drifted to Danny again, and he contemplated calling him, but he'd tried three times already and knew it'd probably go to voicemail again, so he reluctantly settled with the fact that he'd see him later in the morning.

He just wished he could be there for Danny, especially in the courthouse.

The Search and Rescue dogs arrived shortly after he did, and they were anxious to get started by the sounds of it, and he gave the go ahead and the teams advanced into the trees.

Catherine had been in contact with the less than encouraging news that the Navy satellites were unable to pick up any discernable heat signatures in the search grid coordinates he'd given her. It looked like it would have to be a case of good old fashioned footwork, but Steve promised her dinner anyway.

He, Kono and Chin made up one team and took the trail to the east of them. The forest was vast and the manpower they had was severely stretched, so they'd spread out as far as they could keeping just within radio distance.

By the time the sun had evaporated the mist it was approaching ten AM and no one had reported in anything worth checking out yet. It was tedious going.

Another hour later, and Steve checked his cell again, hoping for a message from Danny, scowling when there _still_ was nothing there. He hit #2 on his speed dial, growling under his breath when his call went directly to voicemail. This time he left a message, hoping that the one bar of reception he had was enough for it to send.

"Danny, you okay, man? Call me as soon as you're through, alright?"

He clicked it off and pushed his way through the dense plants, his keen eyes looking for recently disturbed areas and tracks.

"Steve, I think I got something," Kono's tinny voice chirped over the radio. Steve grabbed the device attached to his tac vest and pressed the button.

"Where are you?"

"About four hundred yards west of you."

"Okay, sit tight, Kono. Chin, you copy that?"

"Yeah, be there in fifteen," Chin answered already running by the sounds of it.

Kono stood at what looked like the entrance to a small trail, crudely carved through the rainforest and way off the main drag, and looked hard at the ground. It was outside the parameters of the search grid, but Kono had simply followed her instincts, and it looked like it had hopefully paid off. She squatted and moved the broken leaves aside to reveal fresh tire tracks hidden in the leaf litter, and her brows rose, and immediately she reached for her weapon, holding her ground until her back up got there.

"What did you find?" Steve asked as soon as he saw her, wiping the sweat from his eyes and scanning the area. She pointed her gun to the tread marks, and he immediately shifted the carefully placed foliage and headed down the narrowed out route through the trees, noting the damaged branches on either side, his own Sig-Sauer firmly in his hand.

"Looks like something big drove through here," Chin remarked seeing the wide distance between the tire tracks. "Could be our Van." He palmed his own gun and followed Steve further down the road.

Steve stopped and held up his fist. Both Kono and Chin halted at the signal. Not thirty feet away, Steve could see the mostly concealed fissure in a hill of rocks, freshly disturbed vegetation around the entrance. He looked hard and saw no movement, and indicated Chin and Kono flank to the left and right as he carefully and stealthily approached.

Gun straight out in front of him, and his finger poised on the trigger, Steve squinted into the darkness, his ears straining to pick up any movement. He couldn't hear anything, but he could smell... something sweet and cloying, overlaid with - what was that? Rosemary? No... Steve wrinkled his nose. Camphor. But under that, there was the scent of decay, of death.

Slowly, the three inched into the cave passageway, with Steve's taclight on his Sig leading the way. It was damp and cool, and the darkness closed in on them, until Steve stopped and pointed his torch beam to a naturally formed opening in the cave wall.

They very cautiously entered the small cavern and immediately scanned for danger.

"Clear," Chin muttered, to which Steve nodded and lowered his gun. Noting the many candles, Stevepulled out a lighter and lit a few, instantly casting an eerie glow on the gruesome sight before them.

"Holy fuck, what is that smell?" Kono hissed covering her mouth and nose with the sleeve of her jacket. She jumped back with a yelp when she looked down and saw she was standing on a pile of blood soaked leaves, and Chin's eyes instantly widened at the four jars lined up by the wall.

"Are those... Jesus, Steve, are those the missing detectives?" he asked and swallowed hard. Each jar contained the severed head of a man suspended in clear liquid. The men were still vaguely recognisable. The bitch had _pickled_ them!

Steve rubbed his hand over his face and blew out a breath. Danny had been right, this woman was evil incarnate. He looked away from the macabre sight of the pickled heads and gasped when he saw a wall absolutely covered in photographs of Danny. Some with Grace, and a smaller section with a few shots of Chin, Kono and him, too. But mostly of Danny alone. They spanned what Steve could tell was at least twelve months. Alison Du Pont had been watching Danny for a long time. A sick feeling twisted his stomach as he saw photo's of his friend looking stricken shortly after Grace had been kidnapped, and frowned hard at the series of shots of Danny running hard like the whole world was after him.

Why the hell had she been watching him? Suddenly something inside him clicked and Steve sucked in a sharp breath as facts of the case assaulted his mind in a tidal wave of realisation. The initials of one cop from each killing spree carved into the sixth victim's wrist; four of whom were now dead and pickled, two having taken their own lives. Danny's paranoia that the latest victims had been chosen to provoke a personal response, like each one had been carefully selected to taunt him, drive Danny over the edge... just like the Detectives from the previous cases. The perverse and sick way that Alison Du Pont had leeched her way into Danny's life to metaphorically twist the knife from the inside out.

Fuck, was this what Du Pont had in mind for Danny? Well, no way was Steve going to let that bitch have her endgame. Not this time...

He pulled out his cell frowning at the measly one bar of reception and hit #2 again, waiting for the voicemail to kick in.

"Steve, over here," Chin said getting his attention. He was standing next to a coffin with Marie carved into the lid. "Marie? That's the name of Alison's twin sister... the one that died in nineteen eighty one."

"You think she's in there?" asked Kono, her voice obscured by the cloth of the jacket still covering her nose and mouth.

"One way to find out," Steve nodded. He handed Kono his cell, the call still connected to Danny's, grabbed an end with Chin on the other, and heaved the heavy mahogany lid up and off.

None of them had time to even look at what was inside before a pressurised gas suddenly exploded white powder around them.

"Shit, get outta here!" Steve shouted at the same time Chin yelled "Gas! Move, Kono!" But it was too late to escape and they all quickly collapsed, seizing until they fell unconscious. Steve's cell laid still the floor, Danny's picture still on the screen.

A moment later, soft footfalls approached from a hidden corner unnoticed by the team. Alison circled the three Five-O members with measured steps, looking at them through her gas mask. She picked up the cell and smiled seeing the connection still active and walked out of the cave with it.

"Danny. So sorry, but your team is going to die now," she cooed with exaggerated sympathy, "I hope you don't mind too much, dear, but they looked where they shouldn't and have to pay the price." She sighed heavily. "Don't worry though, I'll take my time with them, making each slice of my knife as excruciating as possible, because hell, they deserve that much, don't you think, Danny?" she taunted. "I shall save the Commander for last, so that he can have the pleasure of watching me bleed your friends, before I finally cut out his heart and feed it to him. _You_ should've been here, Danny, not them. You could've saved them... saved your friends, but it's too late now. Too late. I'll leave the Commander's cell here so you can trace it and come claim the bodies while I go pick up my next victim. Have a nice day," she ended mockingly and clicked it off, pulling the gas mask back on and heading back into the damp passageway, taking out her knife ready to get busy with her new guests.

This part of The Game couldn't have gone any better, and she shuddered in pleasure as she removed the tac vest and cut away Kono's clothes down to her underwear, feeling that rush of adrenalin again.

Alison was careful not to slice too deeply or into anything fatal, but she did just enough to make all three of the Five-O team bleed like stuck pigs. It didn't take her long and she missed seeing the fear in their eyes, but she was handicapped by a time limit.

Her only regret was that she wouldn't be here to see the look on Danny Williams' face when he discovered the bloody bodies of the friends he failed to protect.

Still, Alison looked forward to watching the Detective when he finally fell over that edge, and a flash of excitement washed through her at the thought of breaking the man that she considered her greatest conquest.

With a last look at the three people lying in a pool of their own blood, Alison stood up, made sure Steve's cell was still switched on, and left.

Marie, of course, was no longer in the casket now. She was safely and lovingly wrapped in a woollen blanket and waiting in the back of Alison's van hidden not far from the cave, waiting to go to her new home, where she'd get the rest of her organs, and eventually a new head in a jar for company. Alison smiled at her sister and started the engine, heading out of the rainforest and away from the area.

The carefully measured precise dosage of tetrodotoxin Alison had rigged the trap in the coffin with would incapacitate the Five-O team for at least four to five hours give or take, giving the outwards appearance of being dead, with an extremely slow heartbeat too faint to physically detect, and a paralysis of voluntary muscles, so for all intents and purposes, the victims looked like they weren't breathing.

Alison had said it once already, but she'd say it again and again... working as a veterinary assistant certainly gave her access to some wonderful stuff!

Sure, she could have just killed the Commander and his two subordinates, but it was a Game, _The_ Game, and Alison still wanted all the players... especially when it came for them to see the inevitable self destruction of Danny Williams.

For the detective though, already stressed beyond his limits, when he found his team, he would assume the absolute worst. And then, just like all the others before him, he'd snap and destroy himself looking for her, and not care who he took down with him.

And it would be glorious!

**H-5-0**

**(Apologies if my research is off here, but it works for the story ;p)**


	11. the game 11

**Okay, working to post the next chapter tonight as weekends are a b*tch for me to get 'net time. Apologies in advance if I don't quite get to update 'til Monday. As always, many, many thanks for all the feedback! Have a great weekend, folks :)**

**H-5-0**

It was nearly noon by the time Danny was back sitting, feeling completely numb and empty, in his Camaro. Nearly four hours of waiting, of listening to therapy reports about his daughter, of listening to Rachel's lawyer put forth a convincing reason as to why continual exposure to the dangers of her father's chosen career was not a safe environment for a ten year old.

The reasons he listed, starting with incidents from before they were divorced and Danny barely even remembered, tore at his soul. Each and every one, and there were many, even insignificant events that Rachel had probably listed out of sheer spite... each and every one chipped away at his walls until he felt like he was holding on with his bare fingertips.

The therapist, (and Danny still would never forgive himself for scaring his precious daughter so much that she needed therapy), painted a bleak picture of Grace's fragile psyche, and Danny could see the sympathy clear in the presiding Judge's face. So, it wasn't a shock when she finally gave her judgement.

Even Danny's own carefully worded plea hadn't even made a dent in the overwhelming evidence that Grace would be safer with her father out of her life – Rachel's own words.

And thinking back to Grace's tear streaked face in the storage locker, and the way she'd clung to him, shaking and crying, a part of Danny couldn't find it in himself to disagree. Because maybe Rachel was right.

_"Full custody will be given to Grace's mother, Rachel Edwards, and the restraining order against Daniel Williams will be extended for another two weeks, pending a follow up hearing to determine the possibility of future visitation rights."_

The last bit had been added because being a part of the task force that was heading up the Island Slasher case, the judge had also shown a modicum of sympathy towards the Detective, knowing the stress he was under, and for that Danny was grateful.

He was still under no illusion that he'd ever get to spend time with his daughter again. He knew Rachel would see to that. Rachel and her expensive lawyers.

He'd lost his baby. It was as simple as that.

Blowing out a shaky breath, Danny pulled his jacket off and slung in the back seat, his tie following soon after. And with hands that trembled, he reached for his sunglasses and put them on, hiding the wetness in his eyes.

God, what was he going to do?

Tears slipped down his cheeks, dripping onto his shirt, drying almost immediately in the Hawaiian heat, and Danny just sat there in shock, the judge's words still ringing in his head. He looked down and saw the gold badge clipped to his belt and took it off, running his fingers over the surface, tracing his number, 7576.

All he'd ever wanted to be was a cop, and to be the best cop he could. But the price was too high, and Danny made a decision.

He'd finish this case, and then he was going to quit... and fight for his right to be a father to his daughter.

Taking a deep breath, he tossed his badge on the passenger seat, pulled his cell out to call Steve and saw the voicemail icon flashing.

"_Danny, you okay, man? Call me as soon as you're through, alright?"_

"No, no I'm not, Steve," Danny mumbled to himself as he clicked on the next message.

"_...way to find out."_ Danny frowned as he listened to the noise he heard in the background of the voicemail, his eyes quickly widening in panic when a small explosion nearly blew his eardrum out, just before Steve's frantic shout, "_Shit, get outta here!"_ Danny's hand flew to his mouth as he continued to listen with Chin's yell of _"Gas! Move, Kono!"_ the last coherent thing he heard. The unmistakable thuds of bodies hitting the ground ended the chaos and Danny sucked in a sharp gasp. A long pause of eerie stillness and someone breathing held him captive for what felt like an eternity, barely breathing himself and straining to hear anything else. What came next chilled his blood ice cold.

"_Danny. So sorry, but your team is going to die now. I hope you don't mind too much, dear, but they looked where they shouldn't and have to pay the price. Don't worry though, I'll take my time with them, making each slice of my knife as excruciating as possible, because hell, they deserve that much, don't you think, Danny? I shall save the Commander for last, so that he can have the pleasure of watching me bleed your friends, before I finally cut out his heart and feed it to him. _You_ should've been here, Danny, not them. You could've saved them... saved your friends, but it's too late now. Too late. I'll leave the Commander's cell here so you can trace it and come claim the bodies while I go pick up my next victim. Have a nice day."_

The voicemail ended and Danny stared at the cell, feeling all the colour leech from his face. His team was dead? He checked the time of the call and let out a small cry. It was an hour old. She'd killed them, he was too late.

He should have been with them, he could have stopped her... Oh Jesus Christ... His team, _his Ohana_, was dead!

Starting to hyperventilate, Danny's vision wavered, greying at the edges. _No, nonono no..._ He slammed his fists against the steering wheel, squeezing his eyes shut and forcefully slowed his breathing, digging his fingers into his palms until small crescent shaped wells of blood formed. The pain slowly helped focus him, and Danny forced himself to concentrate on the screen of his phone as he traced Steve's cell using the clever little app Chin installed a few weeks ago. Once he got a hit, he started the car and tore out of the parking lot, sirens blaring, and headed out to find his friends.

And then he was going to hunt that fucking psycho bitch down and literally tear her apart.

~o~

"Duke. Send the search and rescue teams to the coordinates I'm sending you, with CSU and the ME," Danny barked into his phone as he raced down Pali Highway.

"Will do, Detective. What about an ambulance?" Sergeant Lukale asked knowing the Search and Rescue crews were deep in the rainforests there.

"No need. It's too late. My team is already dead," Danny answered dully and ended the call. Back at the HPD, Duke stared shocked at the phone in his hand.

Screeching to a halt, Danny looked through his windscreen at the small, narrowly carved trail through the trees ahead of him. He checked his tracker on his cell and knew it was the right way, and slowly pushed through the foliage, not even caring that the low lying branches were scratching the hell out of the Camaro's paintwork.

He came to a stop and saw the dark opening in the rocks. Gun in one hand, his cell in the other with the torch app to light the way, Danny climbed out of the car and made his way inside the cool, damp passageway, his nose wrinkling in disgust at the sickly smell of lavender and something similar to rosemary. But Danny recognised the putrid stench of decay and death under it, and hurried his pace.

When he reached the small cavern, he was nearly sick, and his knees gave way at the sight of his three friends lying on a pile of blood soaked leaves, their clothes shredded and their bodies mutilated and, oh God, so much blood...

"No... Oh, please no..." Danny cried struggling to his feet again. He saw the cuts and tears welled in his eyes. So many cuts, _so much blood_...

"Steve, please, babe... C'mon, please, you can't be dead," he shook his head frantically trying to find a pulse, his fingers slipping through the sticky slick blood. "Fuck! Come _on_, you're a damned SEAL! Super SEAL! You can't be... Can't be..."

But he couldn't find anything, not even a faint flutter, and a sob tore from his throat.

He tried with Chin, hating the way he was so still, and begged the older man to open his eyes, to _please_ be in there somewhere... But nothing again.

Moving around to Kono, Danny let the tears roll down his cheeks and drip off his chin when he tried and failed to find a heartbeat. His hand shook as he gently stroked her blood matted hair from her face, Alison's words echoing in his head, _"What if it's that pretty Officer Kalakaua next..."_

He was too late. He knew, and he'd failed Kono, failed them all.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered brokenly, leaning over her, feeling empty and dead inside. A second later, he gasped in surprise when he heard a soft moan. Eyes wide, Danny snapped back upright and framed her bloody face in his hands, daring to hope... "Kono? Babe, please... please..."

He held his breath and let it out in a whoosh when Kono did it again, and he wasted no time, gathered her up in his arms and ran out to his car. He carefully put her in the passenger seat and covered her bleeding body with his jacket.

"Hold on, Kono, please," he pleaded racing around to the driver's side and jumping in. "You hang on, you hear me, okay? I'm gonna get you help!"

He floored the accelerator, the wheels tearing up the forest floor, and broke the speed limits racing to the nearest hospital, all the while keeping up a constant mantra of pleas to keep Kono with him.

"You're gonna be okay, babe, you're gonna be okay... You still with me? You stay with me, y'hear? You gotta fight to stay with me..."

Kono hurt. Oh God, did she _hurt_! Whatever they were hit with made her feel like she was drowning, but the effects were somewhat muted probably because she had her sleeve firmly over her nose and mouth and likely didn't get as big a dose that Chin and Steve got, so when Alison has started slicing into her... Holy fuck, it HURT!

She could hear Danny's voice begging her to stay with him, but she honestly just wanted to curl up and die somewhere because the pain was almost too much, and for a second she wondered if her cousin and Steve were in this much pain too.

"Chi...n," she gasped, wincing because the very act of talking seemed to be agony as well.

Danny threw her a look and sucked in a breath. He could lie to Kono and tell her what she wanted to hear, but he respected her too much for that. "I'm so sorry, Kono... I'm so sorry. I couldn't- I couldn't save them. I was too late," he admitted, his voice breaking. "But I'm gonna get her, okay, _I swear to you_, I'm gonna find her even if it ...kills me. I'll find her and I'm gonna kill her," he promised desperately.

Kono opened her eyes to see Danny's face and a jolt of cold fear sliced through her, more painful than the knife of Alison Du Pont's. She could see the truth in his bloodshot eyes. It was the look of a man right on the edge, with nothing left in the world to lose. The look of a man hell bent on personal destruction in the form of revenge.

When the Camaro pulled up outside the ER entrance of Queens Medical Centre, she watched as Danny jumped out shouting for help, and then felt his hand on her arm.

"You'll be okay, Kono," he said softly, his expression a distressing mix of regret and grief. "I'm sorry I couldn't save the others... Don't forget that I love you, alright? And you have to fight and get better. You have to do this... you have to live for... for Chin, and for Steve and," he swallowed hard, blinking back tears, "and for me, alright?"

"D-anny," Kono whispered, and closed her eyes when Danny leaned forward and placed a tender kiss on her forehead. When she opened them, he'd already stood back to allow the medical team access to her. The last thing she saw was her friend, blood stained shirt clinging to his too-thin frame, mouthing the words "I'm sorry" again, and tears fell from her eyes.

Danny Williams was saying goodbye.

The next thing she knew, an oxygen mask was pushing blessedly cool air into her aching lungs, and a euphoric sensation of floating drifted her away from the pain, and she cried herself into a dreamless sleep.

**H-5-0**

Lieutenant Commander Steven J. McGarrett and Detective Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly had been pronounced dead at the scene.

Doctor Max Bergman insisted that he would take care of the bodies personally, to give them the honour and respect they deserved as friends should. But when he walked into the small cavern and saw the horrific sight of torture and death, he very nearly turned away.

Of course he didn't though, and took a deep careful, measured breath, blinked away the tears, and knelt by Steve's bloody body.

After a cursory examination, he frowned slightly perplexed. Although there was a lot of blood from the numerous cuts, each wound inflicted on the men was shallow and, unlike the Slasher's previous victims, none were actually life threatening. The bodies were still slightly warmer than they should be too, despite the cold cave they were in. It didn't make sense and he curiously pressed his fingers to Steve's neck, leaning in close. He couldn't feel a pulse, but...

There was perspiration on Steve's upper lip.

Dead bodies did not perspire.

"Oh my God," he yelped a moment later, his shaking hand poised on the throat of his friend, jolting at the realisation that Commander Steve McGarrett and Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly weren't actually deceased, and urgently ordered a medivac unit.

For a good twenty minutes it was pure chaos in the trauma room of Queens Medical as both men were fixed with oxygen masks, and test after test was performed to determine their almost deathly state, and it was a shock when the results came through. Tetrodotoxin poisoning. With no known antidote to the poison commonly found in pufferfish, all the doctors could do was push IV fluids to combat hypotension and add an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor to try and counteract the effects, and then wait for it to wear off. In the meantime, their superficial knife wounds were cleaned, stitched where necessary, and dressed.

Being a member of Five-O and exhibiting lesser but similar symptoms, Kono was treated with the same.

Max was still reeling in a minor state of shock.

In total, for the Five-O team, there were thirty six wounds, Steve receiving the most, with Chin and Kono marginally less, and two hours later, all three were settled quietly in a private room once they were comfortably past the crisis.

The Governor was informed as soon as his task force had been admitted, and he was the first person Steve saw when he opened his eyes just over three hours after he'd succumbed to the toxic gas.

"Commander McGarrett. It's good to see you finally back in the land of the living," he nodded. Steve blinked, and winced at the soreness of his throat when he swallowed. He lifted his hand to rub the grit from his eyes, stopping the movement when stitches pulled and stung.

"Hmmm... what?"

Leaning forward slightly, the Governor waited until Steve was looking at him again, "Your team is here... well, most of them. You were lucky. Tetrodotoxin poisoning, from a booby trap in the casket you opened in Du Pont's cave," he explained, but Steve could only focus on his first words _...well, most of them._ He raised his head to find Chin sleeping in the bed opposite, and Kono sat up watching him with a stricken look on her face. Both had clean, white dressings covering their arms, from what he could see.

"Where's Danny?" he asked, repeating louder when no one answered. "Where's Danny!?"

"I'm sorry, Commander, but Detective Williams has gone missing," Governor Denning told him softly, and Steve quickly snapped his eyes up to Kono when she started crying.

**H-5-0**

As soon as Danny had dropped Kono off at the hospital, his cell rang. He lifted it to his face and scowled murderously at the number displayed on the screen.

"You're dead. You understand me? You are DEAD!" he shouted as soon as he answered.

"Aw now, is that anyway to talk to a poor victim of the infamous Island Slasher, hmm? I mean, I'm a celebrity after all," Alison smirked down the line.

Yanking the Camaro into traffic one handed, Danny ignored the blaring horns and held his cell tighter, trying to rein in the overwhelming need to just slam the small device against the steering wheel and smash into a million tiny pieces. "Why? Why did you have to do that, huh? Why did you have to-" He choked before he could say 'mutilate'.

"Now, now, Detective. If you get yourself killed in a car accident, how are you gonna avenge the demise of your so called friends? Seriously, drive carefully," she admonished. "Wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"Fuck you, you evil, psycho bitch," Danny spat harshly. "I'm gonna find you, okay, and when I do, I'm gonna make you pay, you understand me? I don't care if it kills me, you fucking bitch, I will find you!"

"Yeah, okay, well, good luck with that, Danny," Alison sneered, taunting further, "because it didn't do any good when your team tried to find me, did it? Do you know they screamed when I cut them? Kono pleaded for me to stop, bless her little heart, but it was just too much fun to watch her writhe in agony each and every time I drove my knife right into her flesh... And Steve... big, brave Navy SEAL Steve... not so brave as it happens. But at least he didn't blub like a baby when I stabbed him time after time... after time... And Chin Ho Kelly? Well, I do believe he called out for his wife."

"Why the hell are you doing this, huh?" Tears ran freely down Danny's face as the words of his friend's suffering cut just as deep as Alison's knife. "Why? Just tell me why... Tell me! _Why_?"

The maniacal laugh drowned out the sound of screeching tires as Danny speeded through a red light, narrowly missing colliding with an oncoming car. "Oh, my dear Detective," Alison's mocking voice sighed. "Have you not guessed yet? I did it all for you."

"What? I... I don't know you!" Danny shouted desperately. "Why the hell-" He snapped his mouth shut and ground his teeth together so hard they ached. "You know what, huh? I don't wanna know! The FBI got it right when they said you were a sociopath," he hissed. "I read your sealed files, you sick motherfucker. Did you kill your mommy and sister too, huh?"

"Shut up-"

"I bet you did. Stuck them with a knife. Did they scream, huh? And what about you, Alison?" he continued to taunt, "How'd it feel to cut open your own flesh? Get off on that, did you?"

"Shut the fuck up!" Alison screamed down the line.

Danny ignored her and carried on, "Mommy dearest didn't love you enough, huh?" He hit Pali Highway and slammed his foot full on the gas. He wasn't sure where he was headed, only that the longer he kept Alison on the line, the easier it would be to trace the call with his smart phone, using Chin's app.

"You have no idea what you're talking about!" Alison yelled viciously. "You have no idea what happened to my sister... How dare you-"

"How dare I? Seriously?" Danny barked back. "You murder all those girls and you ask how dare _I_? You are one seriously fucked up bitch!"

A short moment of harsh breathing filled the silence before Alison very calmly finished by saying, "Well, as much fun this has been, Danny, I must dash. I have an appointment, and mustn't keep her waiting. Wish you luck finding me, but if you don't catch up with me this time, and you're still alive in twenty sixteen, I'll be sure and give you a call then, honey. Ta-ta."

And with that, the line went dead. Danny stared at the phone until the startling blare of a horn had him automatically yanking hard on his steering wheel. The Camaro span wildly across both lanes, and Danny hung on trying to compensate for the out of control slide, but it was no good, and within seconds he'd barrelled through the barrier and was nose first over the side of the road, landing hard in a ditch. The airbag deployed just as the car violently jolted to a stop, but Danny was jerked forward so hard his head still hit the windscreen.

Dazed and bleeding, he pushed open his door and fell out, landing in an ungainly heap on the ground. Blood trickled into his left eye from a nasty gash above his eyebrow, and he furiously blinked it away, finally swiping his fingers across his forehead when the irritation didn't stop. Swaying unsteadily, he stood up and squinted at the screen of his cell. It was clearly cracked and damaged and the power kept cutting out.

"Fuck, no... no, c'mon," he muttered harshly shaking the device until the screen lit up again. The app came online and he tried like hell to focus on the blurry images. He needed to trace that call... he needed—

"Yes," he hissed when a little red dot started flashing on the map. Kaaawa, Kina Place off Kamehameha Highway. And then the image stuttered and went dark. The cell phone was dead.

Shaking off the dizziness, Danny flung the phone back into his car and haphazardly climbed back up the grassy bank beside the highway. His knees gave out when he reached the tarmac and with a grunt, he sat down, cradling his head in his hands to try and stop it from flying off. He felt sick and, Jesus, if only the world would stop spinning long enough for him to get off this fucking merry-go-round, he probably wouldn't be seeing things in triplicate.

Blood trickled steadily down Danny's face and dripped from his jaw, leaving splats of red on the grey asphalt, but Danny ignored it all as he tried to figure out, in his concussion addled mind, how he was going to get from there to where Alison was.

His dilemma was answered when an old GMC pickup truck pulled off the road a few feet away, and a man jumped out and rushed towards him. Danny looked up and blinked, not quite taking in the outrageously flowered shirt and surf shorts, and focussed stupidly on the man's footwear when he stopped right in front of him.

"Hey, brah, you okay?"

Danny closed his eyes for a second, trying to erase the image of _flip-flops_ - in triplicate! - from his brain.

"Dude! You totalled your Camaro!"

Score one for the Hawaiian Surfer dude! Danny grabbed the man's outstretched hand and pulled himself to his feet. The fact that he was bleeding and was still wearing the white dress shirt covered in Kono's blood obviously made the guy a little wary because he held up a hand and blinked nervously.

"S'okay, m'a cop," Danny muttered and reached for his badge that wasn't there. Right, it was still in the car. "Detective Danny Williams, Five-O. My credentials are in the car," he added looking down at the Camaro and sighing.

"Yeah, okay, brah. Tell you what, you take a load off an' I'll get an ambulance here," the man nodded and reached into his shorts. Danny looked up at the pickup truck. It had definitely seen better days, but it was still on the road whereas his car wasn't and Danny grabbed the man's hand.

"No. I need to borrow your truck."

"Hey, look, man-"

Danny lifted his shirt and pulled the gun out of his holster. The man instantly stuck his hands high in the air with an action that any other day would have been comical.

"Take it! Take it, man! Keys are in there... just don't shoot, okay?"

Rolling his eyes, Danny staggered over to the truck and climbed in, nose wrinkling at the distinct smell of _da pakalolo_. He started the truck and pulled away; his only focus now was getting to Alison and ripping her throat out.

The surfer stood gaping at the side of the road, staring dumbfounded. "Ah, man," he sighed heavily when it finally registered that his truck was gone, and dragged a hand over his messy sun kissed blonde dreadlocks. "Ah shit..."

His favourite bong was in that truck.

**H-5-0**

**(OK, so I have no idea if such an App exists, but I bet if it did, the 5-0 team would _def _have it! LOL)**


	12. the game 12

**Hi, sorry I couldn't get on over the weekend folks. Thanks so much for all your encouraging feedback! Part 12... and I'm working on pt13 too :) Bx**

**H-5-0**

Danny knew exactly where he was. Of all the places on this God forsaken, pineapple infested rock, this was one of them he actually recognised.

Kaaawa. Home of _Fine Ass Chocolate and Coffee,_ and the _Donkey Balls_ chocolate outlet shop. It was a place Kono had told Grace about, and had subsequently become a special Father-Daughter treat outing once a month.

Well, before he'd lost her, anyway.

His heart clenched painfully in his chest and his eyes filled when the building came into view. He couldn't even make himself appreciate the gorgeous picture postcard view of the shoreline he was driving along... and almost missed his turnoff.

"Fuck," Danny hissed and yanked the wheel to the left. The truck bounced and skidded on the road, and he slowed down. At the end was a private gate, a private drive. He looked up at the small road sign again, _Kina Place_. Alison was at the end of the drive.

Driving the truck into the trees, he made sure it was well hidden before heading up the drive on foot.

Adrenalin surging through his veins, Danny tapped into his reserve energy and approached the house slowly, silently, weapon in hand, and inched around the sides until he could find a window.

The place was a derelict property, but it was obviously still cared for to a degree, and a part of Danny's concussion scrambled mind screamed at him that he recognised it from somewhere.

Approaching a window, he heard the faint tones of music drifting through the broken glass. Instinctively he lifted his gun.

"_...Exceeds accounts received, at seventeen. To those of us who knew the pain..."_

It was _that_ song, and Danny's chest tightened, his heart thudding fast and loud in his ears... he'd found her... Alison was definitely in there.

Like a flash of white lightening, it then hit him. Kina Place, Kaaawa... the childhood home of Mary Newell. Alison's first victim.

Bitch had a sick sense of humour.

Sneaking around the back of the property, he fought his way through the tangled thicket and found a rotted door leading to the basement and snuck in, weapon still poised, senses on high alert, focus solely on the task of locating and killing Alison Du Pont.

It was when he suddenly heard the desperate whimpers of a young girl that his resolve faltered. If Alison had taken another victim, Danny's first priority was then to get her out before going back and ripping the bitch's heart from her fucking chest and squeezing the life from it.

"Hello?" he whispered into the semi-darkness when the soft sobs got louder. The dirty broken windows let shards of light in, and the dust particles dancing in the afternoon sunbeams made it difficult to see anything. The noise stopped and Danny froze.

"P-please..."

"Where are you?" Danny asked under his breath. Movement caught his eye and he hurried over to a young woman tied to a chair, hoping that it was Lilia Hin. His heart sank; it wasn't. "It's okay," he nodded making light work of the knots in the rope. "I'm a police officer. Is anyone else here with you, another woman – Lilia Hin?"

"N-no... just... _her_," she swallowed convulsively. Danny sighed internally and nodded shuffling around in front of her.

"Where is she?"

The frightened woman sucked in a breath at Danny's dishevelled and bloodstained appearance, but lifted her eyes to a door at the top of a set of wooden stairs. Danny looked up and pursed his lips in a tight line.

"Okay. Okay, you go out of that door," he pointed to the way he came in, "and head to the end of the road. There's a restaurant and a coffee shop to the left. Go there, call the police, alright?"

She hesitated, terrified tears streaming down her face. Danny gently wiped them away.

"What's your name?"

"T-tammy," she gasped softly. Danny smiled at her.

"Okay, Tammy, my name is Danny. Trust me. Can you do that, huh?" She nodded at him. "Good. You're gonna be okay, sweetheart. I promise. Just run as fast as you can, okay? Go to the restaurant or the coffee shop, tell them what's happening and call the police," he repeated and guided her to the rotted door. He gently pushed her through and with only one look back, Tammy ran away from the house.

Once she was out of sight, Danny turned and headed for the stairs, cursing as each one creaked and groaned under the weight of his footsteps.

The music got louder as he neared the top, and he stopped, squinting through the partially open door. He couldn't see anything and carefully pushed against the wood. It squeaked on its hinges, opening up into a dusty kitchen area, and Danny grimaced at the stale smell of rotten food that littered the work surfaces.

He noticed Alison standing behind the door one second too late, when the frying pan she had poised high in the air suddenly came down with a force and connected with the side of his head.

Danny's world instantly exploded in a flash of ringing pain and dizziness, and the last thing he saw was Alison's cold, hard eyes staring at him before the blinding agony in his head consumed the last of any coherent thought and he sank into darkness.

~o~

She couldn't believe it! Alison couldn't decide whether to be fucking pissed or pretty damned impressed with the Detective.

"Can't believe he found us," she shook her head, talking to the decayed remains of her sister. Marie had been lovingly laid to rest on a blanket by the hearth of the grand fireplace in the main living room. Wreaths of hibiscus had been draped over the ornately carved limestone, and lit candles placed around her. The record player, stuck on repeat, continued to play her song in the corner of the room near to where she'd dragged Danny's body. "Of course, the bastard freed our latest girl. Looks like you'll have to wait for your stomach, sister dear."

She paced the room, tapping the blade of her knife against her lips. The decor was rank, with peeling paper and mouldy paintwork, and the floor was sticky with God knows what, but Alison didn't see that. She saw pretty drapes at the windows. Walls painted with bright colours and pictures of happy times hanging from the picture hooks. She saw her sister smiling at her, telling her to _killkillkill_ for her.

"Yes, I know we need another one. I know time is running out," she sighed, squatting down by the bones next to the fire. "I'll get you your stomach and spleen. I promise. Don't I always make it good for you?"

Alison stroked a gloved finger over the skull with a smile. "I love you too, Marie."

Coming to was an unpleasant experience at the best of times, but already exhausted and suffering with a concussion from when Danny had driven the Camaro off the road, made this time even worse. Nausea amplified the dizziness, and he couldn't help it when his stomach twisted painfully and revolted. He spit up bile and groaned pitifully.

"Ah, Detective, nice of you to join us."

The words washed over him, sounding far away, until Danny forced his eyes open to see Alison looking at him. The room was dimly lit, and Danny's muddled brain deduced that it was late afternoon by now. He still had no idea how long he'd been out though, nor did he care.

"You're ruining it, you know," she told him, twirling her knife in her hand. "You're ruining everything!"

"Yeah, can't say... that I'm... too sorry 'bout that," Danny mumbled. His lips still felt a little numb, his words slurring slightly, and the severe pounding in his head made him begin to worry if the bitch had actually cracked his skull.

Not that he cared all that much anyway. What had he got to live for? He'd lost Grace. Steve... Chin... they were dead. And Kono... God, she'd been tortured because of him.

No. All he had to do was stay alive long enough to make sure this bitch died... horribly and painfully.

"Yes, well, I've come to expect that kind of comeback from a smart mouthed ex-New Jersey native such as yourself, Danny," Alison said sounding bored. "You know this means that I'll just have to improvise now, don't you?"

She motioned to a jar by the wall. Danny's eyes narrowed, and he struggled against the metal handcuffs she'd taken from his pocket to secure his hands behind his back with.

"You don't recognise that?" she asked seeing the look. "Dear me. Some Detective, huh, Marie?"

Alison laughed and stood up. She picked up the jar and held it up beside her own head, smiling placidly as Danny got it. "This is where you're going to live soon, Danny. Right in here. To keep my sister company until the next time we meet."

Fuck that, Danny scowled and twisted his wrists. The sluggish movements made his famous Jersey Slip move a little more awkward, but he finally got it, and wrested one hand free, careful not to let Alison realise what he'd done. Yet.

"I'm curious, though," she mused and put the jar down. "You come here on your own? Oh, I forgot, your team is dead, right? Well, I have to know, Danny... How'd you find us?"

Rolling his eyes, he ignored the way the room sickeningly span for a second and barked out a harsh laugh. "What makes you... think I'm on... my own, huh?"

Laughing, Alison used her knife to push the tattered drapes to the side. "You see any back up? I don't. So, you going to tell me? How'd you find us?"

Knowing she'd called his bluff, Danny blew out a breath and asked, "You wanna know, huh?"

Smiling widely, she hunkered down in front of him nodding, knife still in her hand. "Yes, I want to know. Tell me..."

"You really wanna know?" Danny repeated quieter this time, and when she leaned a little forward, he lurched up and grabbed her wrists with both hands, using his head to butt her squarely in the nose.

Blood immediately poured and Alison screamed out in anger, clutching one leather clad hand against her face, the other futilely waving the knife about. With tears streaming, she couldn't see anything, and for the first time she was actually afraid that she might have met her match... and a perverse thrill ran through her.

"Fucking _bastard_!" she yelled, blinking furiously.

Having serious problems himself, Danny fell to his knees a third time as the room tilted and threatened to grey out around him. His head felt heavy and _Jesusfuck!_ hurt like hell, and he was seeing more than in triplicate now, but he had to get a grip... had to pull it together to finish the bitch off.

She'd killed Steve. She'd killed Chin. She'd cut them and tortured them... she'd tortured Kono...

_Focus, damnit, focus!_ Danny silently screamed until he could see images that didn't break apart into sickening colours. When he did, he lunged for Alison again, taking her down with a solid thud, quickly grabbing the hand that held the knife and slamming it against the hard floor until it skittered across the room. She cried out and struggled for all she was worth, her lithe form twisting out of his grip after a couple of well place knees. Danny however, wasn't giving up and scrambled to get the knife.

"I told you... you're dead, bitch. You understand me?" he hissed between gritted teeth. Alison looked up and for a brief moment something very close to fear flashed in her eyes, and then disappeared again, instantly replaced by rage.

She screamed and kicked out, catching Danny in his midriff and winding him for a second. It was long enough, and when he looked up again, Alison was headed out of the door.

"Oh no you don't, you psychotic fucker!" he grunted, stood unsteadily, and staggered after her.

The glare of the late afternoon sun hit him hard, and pain lanced through his skull like a red hot poker, and he quickly shielded his face, straining to see through watery eyes. The sounds of the transit van's engine starting had him going again.

He lunged at the van just as Alison hit the accelerator and crashed out of a garage. The windows were open, and somehow he managed to hook both his arms through the passenger side, hanging on while his feet frantically found purchase on anything solid. He looked up just in time to see Alison twist in her seat and point his own gun at him, and quickly smacked her arm away when it fired a volley of bullets right above his head.

"Motherfucker!" he hissed through his teeth and fought hard, the gun falling from her grip to land somewhere beneath the seats. She shouted a long string of profanities at him, yanking at the steering wheel and trying to dislodge Danny as the van hurtled down the drive, but each curse word didn't even register as Danny tried his best to hang on and get through the window into the van.

When she suddenly raised her legs, Danny knew he'd lost, and just as the soles of her sensible shoes collided with his jaw, he lost his grip and went flying backwards, landing hard in the thicket of ferns by the dirt road helplessly watching as the van speeded off. He pushed himself up and stumbled to the place he'd hidden the old GMC pickup, jumping in and skidding after her in a cloud of burning rubber and dust.

No way was she getting away this time.

Tammy looked up from where she'd been hiding since the cop, Danny, had helped her escape, and cautiously peered through the thick branches of the bushes she was crouched behind. She saw the Ford van speed down the road, disappearing in the distance, and started sobbing. God, she'd been so, so scared! As soon as she'd left the house, she'd gone as far as she could until fear had literally paralysed her and she'd hidden and silently apologised to Danny because she was a coward, but now... now that _woman_ had gone, she carefully stood up and headed for the restaurant.

The old GMC truck engine made her jump and squat down again in terror, and only when the sounds of the ocean in the distance fill the air, did she get up again.

**H-5-0**

"_I'm sorry, Commander, but Detective Williams has gone missing," Governor Denning told him softly, and Steve quickly snapped his eyes up to Kono when she started crying._

"What do you mean, Danny's gone missing?" Steve demanded to know. He sat up and the vein in his neck bulged just above the dressing taped to his collar bone. The volume of his voice had the duty nurse running in within seconds.

The Governor held a hand up. "Sorry, my fault," he admitted when the nurse scowled at her patients. Steve glared back at her, daring the woman to even approach him with any kind of calming medication.

"That is all well and good, Governor Denning, but I must stress that these people need rest and quiet," she stated firmly.

"I understand, ma'am," Denning nodded and made to stand up. Steve's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist.

"No, you're not leaving until you tell me everything," he growled. Denning simply raised an eyebrow and looked at the white knuckled grip around his arm. Steve however, unfazed by the man, narrowed his eyes at him.

"Do you mind, Commander?" Denning said.

Steve let go slowly, adding, with a touch of menace, "Tell me what you know, Governor. Now." Adding "Sir," and making it sound like an afterthought.

Although he was aware that Lieutenant Commander McGarrett was essentially his subordinate, it didn't escape his knowledge that the decorated Navy SEAL was also a lethal weapon in his own right, and that demanded a certain level of respect. A fierce loyalty to his team had Steve balancing on an edge, and Denning didn't want to be the one to tip him over. Instead, he sat back down and filled Steve in with everything he knew.

"Detective Williams called HPD at twelve oh eight this afternoon, requesting CSU and the ME to your location. According to Sergeant Lukela, he'd denied the request for an ambulance saying, and I quote, _'No need. It's too late. My team is already dead.'_" Denning stopped when Steve's face drained of colour. "Commander, are you alright?"

"Yeah." But inside, Steve was aching for his friend and Danny's words swam around and around in his head. "Go on, sir..."

"Okay. He brought Kono to the ER here at eighteen minutes after one..."

Steve turned to Kono, who looked wrecked and stricken and was barely holding it together. "Kono-"

"He was saying goodbye, Steve," she forced out roughly. "He kept saying he was sorry, sorry he was too late to save you and Chin, and he was gonna find her and kill her, even if it killed him." She looked at Steve, eyes flowing with tears, "God, Steve, he was saying goodbye!"

Not able to sit by while Kono cried hard into her bandaged arms, Steve pushed himself out of bed and huddled her to his chest. The machines attached to him came undone and started wailing, which in turn had a team of medical personnel rushing in.

Chin opened his eyes at the ruckus, and immediately sat up.

"Commander McGarrett-"

"I'm signing myself out AMA," he said loudly at the nurses trying to coax him back to bed. "Governor. Finish the report, sir," he prompted, reaching into his locker by his bed looking for his clothes. Kono yanked the sheets off her own bed and gingerly stood up, making Denning sigh dramatically and roll his eyes.

"Prepare the forms for them to sign, please," he said to the duty nurse. "All three of the pigheaded stubborn-" he added with a sharp sweep of his hand when he saw Chin push his legs out of bed.

"Governor," Steve said curtly, and Denning scowled, but carried on his report.

"Another victim was reported missing at noon, taken from the bottom tier of a two storey car park outside Walgreens in Kaneohe. Tammy Harper, aged twenty. Witnesses place the same Ford Transit van in the area shortly before, and the body of Lilia Hin was discovered by the side of Kapaa Quarry Road," he reeled off just as the nurse returned with the doctor and the forms.

Steve took out his IV and peeled off the wires attached to his chest, before holding his hand out for the form. "Pen?"

"I must advise against this, Commander McGarrett," the doctor said seriously. "You all had tetrodotoxin poisoning, and your respiratory system could still be compromised."

"Noted," Steve muttered and scribbled his name at the bottom of the form. He handed the pen to Kono when she waggled her fingers. "Governor, anything else on Danny?"

"You all received numerous knife wounds, and-"

"Also noted," Chin nodded holding up his bandaged arms. Steve stiffly pulled his shirt on and leaned over to tie his boot laces as Kono handed the pen to her cousin.

"We tried to get a trace on Detective Williams' cell phone, but it's dead."

"And the blood loss and general shock to your systems-"

"Your point being?" Kono asked the doctor bluntly, glaring with a look that promised a severe kicking if he even dared contemplate suggesting they stay in the hospital for a second longer. She turned to Denning with a frown creasing her forehead. "What about the GPS in his car?"

The hesitation made all three members of Five-O look hard at him. Denning swallowed, "GPS tracking put Williams' car on Pali Highway. It was run off the road."

"What?" Steve blinked shocked. "And Danny?"

"Not at the scene. We have the car in the HPD crime lab garage," Denning told them, finally repeating, "Detective Williams is missing."

Less than ten minutes later, the Governor watched as his elite team, minus one, shuffled out of the ward, each clutching a small bag of meds, barely able to put one foot in front of the other, leaving a confused doctor and a fuming nurse behind. He shrugged apologetically at them both and followed his people.

At the elevators, he couldn't help but look to see the pale faces, Kono's tear reddened eyes, and the way Steve was trying hard not to breath too deeply lest it pull on the stitches holding the skin on his chest together... but under all that, what he did see was the resolute determination to find their forth. That stubborn loyalty and level of love that made the team what it was... Ohana.

The Governor accompanied them to the Five-O HQ, but left soon after when his aides reminded him of yet another press conference.

**H-5-0**


	13. TG13

**H-5-0**

Chin immediately ordered Steve's cell to be brought to them from evidence even before he walked through the doors, and they listened to the voicemail that was aimed at Danny.

"_...way to find out...[explosion]...Shit, get outta here! Gas! Move, Kono!"_

The sharp, painful memories the frantic shouts conjured up had the team shifting uncomfortably where they stood as they waited for the rest of the voicemail. When Alison's cold voice finally drifted up from the cell and filled the silence in the room, Steve, Chin and Kono stared horrified.

"_...Danny. So sorry, but your team is going to die now. I hope you don't mind too much, dear, but they looked where they shouldn't and have to pay the price. Don't worry though, I'll take my time with them, making each slice of my knife as excruciating as possible, because hell, they deserve that much, don't you think, Danny? I shall save the Commander for last, so that he can have the pleasure of watching me bleed your friends, before I finally cut out his heart and feed it to him._ You_ should've been here, Danny, not them. You could've saved them... saved your friends, but it's too late now. Too late. I'll leave the Commander's cell here so you can trace it and come claim the bodies while I go pick up my next victim. Have a nice day."_

All three looked sick when the cell went quiet. Jesus Christ, Danny had heard that? And then found their 'bodies'? It made Steve want to hunt the bitch down and rip her cold, dead heart out knowing all too well with frightening clarity that this time, the provoked response might just drive Danny over that edge.

But for now, he pulled up the map and pinpointed where the latest victim had been abducted from, where Lilia Hin's body was found, and correlated that with the location of Alison Du Pont's cave.

Rubbing hard at his temples, Steve closed his eyes and sighed heavily when the image of Lilia popped up next to where her body was found. She'd seemed such a sweet young girl.

"We're still on the South East side of Oahu," Kono noted. "I'll see if I can pick up the van using the traffic cams in Kaneohe, and see if I can get a hook on her."

"Okay, good idea. Chin, look into Tammy Harper, and get an update on Lilia Hin from Max. I'm gonna go down to the HPD garage, get Danny's cell, see if we can get a last caller ID off it," Steve said gingerly strapping his gun to his belt along with his badge. He needed to get out of there, Alison's taunts to Danny were still whirling around in his head and he needed to clear it.

Time was against them. Every moment Danny was missing was another second he thought his team was dead, and after what he'd heard on his voicemail and what Kono had told him, Steve was scared to death that his friend had been pushed over the edge, and was on a path of self destruction.

He wanted to know how the custody hearing had gone, because that would have an impact on Danny's state of mind, and he picked up his new cell and keyed in Rachel's number from memory as he drove his truck to the HPD.

"Hello, Edwards residence. How may I direct your call?"

"Rachel Edwards, please. It's Commander McGarrett and it's urgent," he barked impatiently.

"I'm sorry, Commander McGarrett, Mrs Edwards in unavailable at-"

"You listen to me," Steve shouted into his cell. "It is imperative that I talk with Rachel. Right now! Find her!"

A few seconds later, Rachel's clipped British tone sounded on the phone. "Commander."

"I need to know what happened this morning at the hearing," he said straight away.

"That is a private matter concerning myself and Daniel, Commander," Rachel answered tightly. Steve grated his teeth together.

"Look, Rachel, I need to know... for Danny's sake. Please," he forced himself to ask calmly.

"What's happening? Is Daniel alright?"

Jesus, Steve wanted to laugh out loud at that. No, Danny wasn't alright, and by the looks of it, had not been alright for months! Not that he'd let anyone know, and it made Steve's insides twist as he remembered each time Danny had veered the subject of conversation off himself to avoid talking. Ever since Grace had been kidnapped by Danny's crazy ex-partner from New Jersey, Steve couldn't actually say for certain that Danny had seen his daughter in all that time. Alright, so the man said he had, but thinking back, Steve realised that Danny had lied to him... that he had not even seen Grace on his birthday, that he'd spent the evening drowning his misery in a whiskey bottle, and then ran until he was bloody and exhausted.

He now recognised the fight, the aggressive tactics to stop the pain and depression trying to swallow him whole, and saw the unapproachable demeanour, the way Danny practically screamed 'stay away' in his very stance, every time anyone so much as mentioned talking about _feelings_.

"No, he's not, Rachel," Steve said shortly. "He's... He thinks we're dead-"

"What?"

"I don't have time to explain right now, but he's missing and I need to know what happened this morning, alright?" Steve finished, because he needed to know if Danny knew he still had Grace to come home to. Rachel hesitated and Steve barked, "Rachel!"

"He ah... The judge granted me full custody of my daughter and extended the restraining order for another two weeks pending a follow up hearing determining possible future visitation rights," she said quietly repeating the judge's words.

"Restraining order?!" Steve yelled. She'd taken out a restraining order against Danny to stop him seeing his kid? What the fuck?! "Rachel, _why_?"

"You don't understand the trauma Danny put Grace through-"

"Hey, wait a minute," Steve interrupted hastily. "It wasn't Danny's fault that maniac Peterson kidnapped Grace! Did you know he told Danny to _kill_ Stan, huh? And Danny practically begged Peterson to kill him instead, that Stan and Grace were innocent and to let them go? He _begged_ him!" He took a breath and added, "Danny was a wreck after that. He nearly drowned himself in whiskey, but you know what the only thing was that made him stop before it was too late, huh? Knowing that he had Grace... knowing that he had his little girl to hold and be with when he was allowed."

The bitterness and resentment bled through Steve's words, but he didn't care. Rachel may as well have signed Danny's death warrant when she took Grace away from him.

He arrived at the HPD crime lab garage and turned off the engine.

"I'm sorry, Commander, I hope you find him," Rachel said, her tone soft and subdued.

"I hope so, too, Rachel. I hope we find him before it's too late."

"Commander? Ah, I have to pick Grace up from her dance class at seven this evening, but please, please let me know. I may come across as a cold hearted bitch, but I still do care for Daniel," she added hesitantly.

Steve didn't even reply.

Walking into the large garage, Steve's eyes were immediately drawn to Danny's Camaro. It didn't look too badly damaged, apart from scrapes on the paintwork down one side and a busted headlight and front wing. Charlie Fong currently had his upper body leaning over the driver's seat, and Steve stopped and cleared his throat.

"Commander McGarrett," Charlie said scrambling to stand up.

"Aren't you in the wrong lab?" Steve asked wondering why the criminologist was in the evidence garage and not playing with his gadgets in his crime lab.

"I wanted to process Detective Williams' car myself," Charlie said quietly. "He's a friend and he's missing."

Steve nodded, understanding. Cocking his head, his eyes widened at the blood on the deflated airbag and windscreen. Danny's blood.

Charlie saw the look and stepped in, "Oh, yeah, when the car impacted, it's likely Detective Williams wasn't wearing his seatbelt and he injured himself in the crash. Probably a head lac. They tend bleed a lot," he explained trying to sound positive.

A head laceration? Head injury? So, Danny was missing with an injury and probably concussion. Great.

"What about his cell? Did you find his cell?"

"Yes." He led Steve over to a table with carefully labelled evidence bags arranged on it. "Cell phone, damaged in the crash."

Steve took the bag and looked at what else there was. Danny was a neat freak, and kept his car squeaky clean, so there wasn't much, but what caught his eye, though, were Danny's Five-O shield, and an envelope. He pulled on a latex glove and picked it up, recognising Rachel's neat handwriting straight away. The plain, generic birthday card was from Grace, written by Rachel, and had no warmth in it at all, and his heart ached for his friend.

Suddenly, the need to find Danny became even more urgent.

"I want his badge as soon as you're finished with it," Steve told Charlie. "I'm taking the cell to see if we can get anything off it."

He countersigned Charlie's signature to keep the chain of evidence and then hurried back to Iolani Palace.

~o~

"So, Tammy Harper, age twenty years, works at Walgreens as an assistant pharmacist. Lives with her boyfriend in Kaneohe, and is a graduate of the Academy of the Sacred Hearts," Chin reported as soon as Steve limped in and handed him Danny's broken cell. "Witnesses saw a dark transit van parked in the area shortly before her boyfriend reported her missing."

"Her boyfriend?" Kono asked.

"Yeah, apparently she was supposed to meet him, and never turned up. Knowing about the Slasher, he immediately rang it in."

"I tracked the van using the traffic cams until it hit Kamehameha Highway, and then I lost it," Kono reported. "No camera's on the highway, and I didn't have any luck picking it up in Ahuimanu, Kailua or Kahaluu either. Sorry, boss."

Rubbing at his chest, Steve walked forward and looked at the picture of Tammy Harper on the screen, one taken when she was ten, and dressed in the uniform of the Academy of the Sacred Hearts.

"This is the same school Grace goes to," he said, his mind whirling with the images from the cave – of all the photographs Alison had of Danny. "You told me she picked the victims to prompt a personal response from you," he muttered under his breath.

"What?" Kono frowned. Steve turned to face them

"The pictures in the cave... all those of Danny, and those of Grace and of us... Danny figured the Slasher out and told me that she was picking victims to provoke a response from _him_," he said. "In all the other cases, there was one cop that was pushed to the limits-"

"The six detectives," Chin nodded remembering the horrific jars in the caves. He tapped away on the smart table trying to get access into Danny's SIM card.

"Yeah. She picks him out and stalks him. She chose Danny this time. I bet we'll find evidence of that for all the cases." Steve leaned forward and took a careful breath in. "I didn't believe him, y'know? I told him he was being paranoid."

"Steve, it was circumstantial at best," Chin shrugged quietly.

"Maybe, but, he figured it out. He was right. There is a personal connection here, and he used that and figured out who the Slasher is. I should've trusted him, should've listened to him. Even with the issues he's going through, he's still damned good at his job. Sometimes I forget that." Steve looked up and rubbed his fingers over his eyebrow, trying to massage the ache behind his eyes. "We have to find him."

"I'm in," Chin suddenly said just as Kono's cell started ringing. She moved to the side to take the call. Chin put Danny's call history on the screen.

"It's her, she reactivated that number and called him after he dropped Kono off at the hospital," Steve growled, "_After_ she had left us for dead! See if you can trace it."

"Steve," Kono held her phone to him. "It's Tammy Harper." Steve all but snatched the cell and hit the speakerphone.

"Tammy?"

"Oh God, he saved me, he got me out," she sobbed down the phone. Steve frowned and rubbed a hand across his forehead again.

"Tammy, listen. The man you're talking about, what was his name?"

"Danny. Said he was a police officer, but he was covered with blood. He got me out and I hid until she left." She started crying again. "He stayed inside... Oh God, I don't know... is he dead? Did she k-kill him?"

"Tammy, where were being held? Tammy, please, where are you?" Steve said loudly trying to be heard over the sobs.

"Kaaawa. I'm at the restaurant next to Kina Place. She tied me up in the basement in a house up there," Tammy sobbed again, and Steve could hear the sympathetic noises of people in the background. Chin quickly keyed in the information and pulled up the location on the map.

"Tammy, can you tell me which house?"

"There's only one, oh God... she was gonna kill me..."

"Got it," Chin nodded.

"Hey, give the phone to someone with you, okay, honey?" Steve suggested gently when Tammy sobbed harder.

"Hello?" came a new voice, male.

"This is Commander Steve McGarrett of Five-O," Steve said efficiently, "Stay with Tammy and don't let her out of your sight until HPD and the paramedics get there, okay?"

"Yes sir," the man said, and Steve clicked the phone off and sent six more armed units in addition to the police and ambulance HPD had en route to the restaurant, with instructions to secure the property at the end of Kina Place.

No one spoke as they quickly geared up to get to Kaaawa, each praying that they'd find Danny and they'd find him alive.

It was five minutes after they piled into their cars when the call came through the police band radio from HPD.

_Female suspect matching description of Alison Du Pont, in a dark Ford Transit van, license plate; victor, tango, alpha, three, zero, seven, speeding southbound on Pali Highway, being pursued by Caucasian male in a light beige GMC pickup truck, plate; bravo, zulu, foxtrot, eight, one, five._

Steve clicked on his cell and as soon as it connected asked, "This is Commander McGarrett! Is that Detective Williams in the pickup?"

"Unknown, Commander," the HPD dispatch answered. Steve slapped a hand against his steering wheel.

"Find out!"

He redialled Chin and Kono. "Did you get that? HPD have Alison's van being pursued by a pickup truck on Pali Highway right now," he said.

"Danny," Kono guessed. Both Chin and Steve agreed, despite what HPD said. They speeded up.

**H-5-0**


	14. TG 14

**Hi! Thank you for all the wonderful reviews! I'm really pleased you're all still enjoying this :o) *hugs***

**H-5-0**

Danny shook his head again, forcing himself to focus on the van three car lengths ahead of him. His vision continually greyed at the edges in waves of dizziness, and the lines blurred, but he pushed on. He had to get her. Pressing down on the gas, the old GMC truck whined and shuddered under the strain, but Danny didn't care.

He was catching up to Alison, and that drove him on.

Sirens sounded in the distance, and he smiled grimly, giving his head a quick shake yet again. Oh, the bitch was going down this time. Her reign as the Island Slasher was over...

That smile slipped quickly though, and was replaced by frantic look of panic when he recognised which way she was headed as soon as they exited the highway.

"No..."

~o~

Rachel climbed out of her Mercedes and smiled at the other mother's walking into the dance studio. She flicked her hair and held her head up, keeping her posture straight as she entered the doors. It was a good dance school, and Grace enjoyed it as every little girl should, and a part of Rachel smirked inside when she thought how more appropriate this was for her daughter than _football_.

She sighed heavily thinking about what the Commander had said, but she was only thinking of her daughter's best interests. She was doing it all for Grace.

The little pink satin dress Grace wore for her dance class swayed as she ran to her mother, her arms out ready for a hug.

"Hello Grace. Did you have a good class today?"

"Yeah! We learned how to twirl on the spot without falling over, and Chrissy showed me how to do a cartwheel," she said excited walking with her mom back to the car. "I wish I could show Danno."

"Grace, sweetheart, we talked about that, remember?" Rachel smiled patiently making sure Grace's seatbelt was fastened.

"Yeah, I know," Grace sighed sadly. She missed her Danno, so much. "But, when can I see him? I didn't even get chance to give him my special birthday gift this year! Only your card."

Climbing gracefully into the car herself, Rachel then twisted in the seat when she heard Grace's small voice tremble and ask, "He might forget me, mom, he might not love me anymore..."

"Oh, sweetheart, no," Rachel reassured reaching out to gently shake Grace's knee. "Your Danno loves you, and always will. Don't you forget that, okay?"

Grace sighed heavily but nodded to her mom, "Okay."

Rachel turned forward again, buckled up and looked at Grace through the rearview mirror. "But you remember what Mrs Kameha said?" she asked about Grace's therapist.

"Mrs Kameha said a lot of stuff, mom," Grace rolled her eyes and for a moment looked so much like Danny it made Rachel's resolve crack a little.

"I'm talking about what happened to Step-Stan, and why daddy has to stay away," she said.

"But daddy shot Step-Stan safely, and saved me, mommy," Grace whined slapping her hands on her knees. Rachel pulled a face - _daddy shot Step-Stan safely_!? Grace ignored her mom and carried on, "Mrs Kameha says that my Danno is a dangerous man, but that's not true. It's not! It's his job that's dangerous, and if he didn't do it then all the bad guys would do a lot more bad things!"

Sighing, Rachel watched as tears welled up in Grace's big brown eyes. That wasn't entirely accurate as, in their last session together, Mrs Kameha had merely tried to make Grace understand that policemen carried guns and guns were dangerous, but Grace had misunderstood thinking the woman had dissed her father and had refused to talk for the last twenty minutes.

Rachel knew Grace missed her Danno, and it tore at her heart each and every time the little girl told her so, but what Danny did had scared her... well, Grace had said that it had scared her that her daddy had been made to shoot Stan by a bad man. Rachel admitted to herself that she had twisted her daughter's words, but it was because she was doing what she thought was right...

Wasn't she?

Trying to ignore the quiet crying in the back seat, Rachel started the car and carefully pulled away.

~o~

"Commander McGarrett. Confirmed," dispatch said when Steve answered his cell. "Detective Williams is in pursuit of female suspect, now heading west on Wyllie Street. Units are en route."

"Copy that, dispatch," he acknowledged, quickly ending the call and contacting Chin.

"Kelly."

"Confirmed, Chin. Danny is the driver of the truck in pursuit, now heading west on Wyllie Street," Steve yelled as he yanked hard on his steering wheel and headed in that direction with his sirens blaring and lights flashing. He got Chin's affirmative only a little louder than Kono's.

They reached Wyllie Street in a matter of moments, just as Alison's dark transit van hurtled by them, closely followed by the pickup truck. Steve caught a glimpse of the driver and his heart leapt into his throat. It was Danny, and he looked crazed, with blood caked in his wild hair, and stained rusty all over his shirt sleeves.

Without a seconds thought, Steve stepped on the gas and accelerated until he was behind Danny, shouting into his cell, "Chin, cut the van off!"

Pedestrians fled for their lives and traffic quickly moved out of the way in a panic of screams and screeches of tires, as the van raced down Wyllie Street, leaving a trail of mayhem behind it. Steve manoeuvred his truck from side to side to avoid hitting the cars that Alison had clipped and sent spinning, and he watched with trepidation as Danny's pickup truck moved up and side swiped the van, trying to force it off the road, trying to stop the lethal chase through the streets of Honolulu.

For a second, the pickup truck skidded wildly, hub caps spinning off the wheels and window glass shattering, but Danny pulled it back under control and went in for another hit.

No way could he let that bitch reach her destination. He knew what day it was... he knew his daughter was at her dance class, and he knew exactly what Alison was doing.

_"What if it's that pretty Officer Kalakaua next? Or even your daughter, Danny? No one is safe!"_

She'd already gotten to Kono, had killed Steve and Chin, no way was she getting her fucking hands on his Grace!

Danny was aware that HPD was in pursuit, he could hear the sirens amidst the screams and chaos, but his focus – broken but determined and hell bent – was on the van, and the thought of making Alison pay for what she did kept him going.

Rachel watched as two HPD units raced passed her, lights flashing, sirens blaring, and slowed down. She contemplated pulling over, but the flow of traffic was still constant, so she carried on. Grace was still crying silently in the back seat, and she just wanted to get home and back to Charlie.

It was when the frightening sounds of cars colliding with one another and the screams of people running away from the chaos up ahead, that Rachel gripped the steering wheel a little too tightly and stared wide eyed at the dark transit van seemingly headed right for her. Instinct, honed from being married to a cop, kicked in and she slammed her foot on the gas and spun her Mercedes out of the way. The van then suddenly skidded to a stop, and a woman, dishevelled bleach blonde hair and dried blood stained down the front of her chest, jumped out and ran towards them, a gun waving menacingly in her hands.

She was screaming at her, but Rachel wasn't listening. She'd already turned to Grace and was frantically pulling at the seatbelt to get her daughter to safety and away from this maniac, when a shout startled her and she looked up to see Danny barrel into the woman, knocking her to the side and fighting her for all he was worth.

Danny had hit the brakes of the pickup and watched horrified as the bitch started running towards Rachel's car, his gun in her hand. When he saw the Mercedes veer off to the side with a move that would make any driving instructor cringe, but made him proud, he knew he had one chance to save his baby girl, and he speeded up, stopping just short of the van, and jumped out, charging Alison with all he had.

She struggled and screamed, but Danny fought back, landing one, two, three left hooks, splitting her lips, before she kneed him in the groin. His head swam and the world kept tilting in a sickening wave of nausea, but he couldn't let her win.

"Danny!"

Steve's voice startled him and Danny blinked. But that couldn't be Steve, he was dead. Fuck, now he was hearing things... He tried not to let that distract him and managed to get one hand tight around Alison's throat, the other grappling with the fist grasping his gun.

"Danny!"

Jesus, he was doomed... Danny growled and shook his head, trying to hold Alison's hand away from his body and wrestle the gun off her, all the while cursing his life for making Steve plague him even in his afterlife too. Alison managed to dislodge the tight grip on her throat with a bloody, menacing smile, knocking Danny's balance off slightly.

He was weakening, he could feel it, but Danny had to save his daughter, and with one last ditch attempt, he rolled fully on top of Alison and twisted her arm, but she used the move against him and pushed her hips up, jamming the cold, hard barrel of the gun into Danny's side, and pulled the trigger.

And the last thing that went through Danny's mind before the darkness claimed him was that he'd failed Grace.

Steve staggered to a stunned stop as Danny's body jolted with the impact of three bullets, and then stilled, draped over the killer. He aimed his gun right at Alison's head, but she quickly lifted her arms to the side in surrender, and Steve fought damned hard not to just put lead right between her eyes anyway.

He looked up and saw Chin and Kono staring shocked for a second, before they leapt into action, ordering an ambulance and getting Alison cuffed and secured while Steve hurried to his partner's side and very gently pushed him over onto his back.

"Oh God, Danny," he gasped. The holes in his side pulsed blood, creating a rapidly spreading pool of slick red under him, and Steve pressed his hands over them, trying desperately to stop Danny's life from flowing through his fingers. He looked up when a white silk scarf nudged at his hands, and saw Rachel kneeling there, crying.

He took it silently and used that instead.

"C'mon, Danny, stay with me," Steve urged his partner. Reaching up, he pressed his fingers against Danny's throat. The beats were fast and faint, but still there. "Danny... Danny, c'mon..."

In the Mercedes, Grace watched in terror as her Danno lay bleeding on the road. Her Uncle Steve was trying to help him, but he wasn't waking up. She wanted to go to him, tell him she loved him, she loved her Danno, but her mom said she had to stay in the car. So she did, and cried and cried.

Alison sat staring at Danny from the back of an HPD cruiser. She hoped he die, he'd ruined everything. Because of him, she'd had to leave Marie behind, and for that she'd never forgive him, and vowed to make him pay. _Very_ soon. _If_ he lived...

"Ambulance is two minutes out, boss," Kono said as she knelt by Danny's head. She gently cradled it and gingerly stroked over his pale cheeks. Steve pressed harder, looking more panicked by the minute. The blood wasn't stopping...

"Danno, stay with me, okay? Please..."

"Geez, Steve... can' a man die n'peace?"

The words, slurred and breathy, were like music to Steve's ears and he felt his heart thud hard in his chest. "Nah, man, 'course not! You gotta stay with me, buddy."

"Nearly dead... be with you... in a minute..."

Kono looked up, her eyes filling at Danny's words. He sounded calm, accepting, and the small sad smile on his bloody lips nearly undid her, but Steve shook his head and leaned closer to his partner.

"Danny, listen to me, okay? You're gonna be alright... you just need to keep breathing, focus on my voice, stay with me," he said firmly, gently palming Danny's face. "Stay with me, Danno..."

Dull blue eyes fluttered open, and Danny looked at Steve, panic making his breath hitch, "Grace!"

"She safe, Danny, I promise she's okay..."

_Oh, thank God_. Danny then smiled almost serenely, teeth stained with red. "Saved Grace..."

"Yeah, man, you did, she's safe," Steve nodded, looking right into Danny's eyes, patting his cheek when they rolled and threatened to slide closed. He could hear the ambulance sirens now and silently hurried them along as his guts twisted when he recognised all too well the unmistakable signs of someone fading fast. "Hey, open your eyes, stay with me... ambulance is nearly here..."

"S'okay, Steve-o... can lemme go... be with you," Danny slurred. "We can... haunt the island t-together... Five-Ooooooo..." He laughed breathily at his own joke, blood frothing at his mouth, grimacing when pain flared through his body. "You, me, Chin... all dead..."

"No, oh Danno, no, we're not dead, you hear me?" Steve said frantically but Danny just shook his head and closed his eyes. Typical McGarrett, arguing to the last. The afterlife was gonna be hell. "Danny, open your eyes, come on... Stay with me! You have Grace to live for, buddy... She needs you!"

But he didn't. "No... I don't..." and Danny's head slumped to the side and he stopped breathing. Kono looked up alarmed, but Steve immediately jumped into action urging Kono back.

"Chin, hold this," he instructed placing Chin's hands against Danny's wounds. He then leaned up and tried for a pulse, starting chest compressions when he couldn't feel one.

"Danny, don't do this..." he panted, counting silently in his head, trying desperately not to notice how Danny's ribs grated and moved unnaturally beneath his hands. He reached thirty, bent down and fastened his mouth over Danny's breathing twice for him, pushing air into his lungs, checked for a pulse again, and then resumed compressions.

Rachel sat holding Grace in the back of her Mercedes while Steve fought for her ex husband's life. A gamut of emotions rolled through her as Grace struggled and sobbed for her daddy, and she hated herself for what she'd done. She hated Danny for being the best father a daughter could have, and hated the world for taking him from them. Her grip faltered when Grace pushed hard, and before Rachel could stop her, Grace jumped out of the car and ran to her Danno's side, crying and begging him not to die.

"Danno... Daddy, please don't leave me... I love you," she sobbed. Kono quickly gathered her up and held her tight. Rachel ran to her side just as the ambulance arrived and Steve was giving Danny even more life saving breaths, but Grace shoved at her with trembling hands.

"You wouldn't let me see him, mommy, and now... What if he leaves me? Daddddy!" she wailed, burying her face in Kono's chest. Rachel sat back, hand over her mouth, tears making her makeup run.

Panting harshly, Steve moved back from Danny when the EMT's hurried to his side. He watched wide eyed as they quickly yanked his shirt open and placed gel pads on his body. Another was forcing oxygen into his starved lungs while the defibrillator charged.

"He's in V-Fib, charged to two hundred. Clear!"

Danny's body stiffened and his hands jerked, and then fell limp again. Steve could still taste Danny's blood in his mouth and wiped his arm over his lips before moving next to Kono and Grace, who was watching the frightening scene with huge, scared eyes. She moved to Steve as soon as she could, totally ignoring her mother. Rachel sat paralysed, oblivious to the crowds, HPD, everything around her, shocked at what she was seeing. Every nightmare of being married to a cop crashing down around her in cold reality. She felt a squeeze on her arm and looked up to see Chin offering her support. She took it gratefully.

"Still V-Fib, charging to three hundred. Clear!"

Again, Danny's body stiffened and then went limp, and Steve held his breath. "Come on, Danny," he murmured. "Come on..."

"I'm getting a normal sinus rhythm, fast, but steady," the EMT reported and what felt like a huge weighted sigh was released around them.

Within moments, Danny was hooked up to a monitor and two IV's to try and counter the blood loss, before he was strapped to a gurney and loaded into the ambulance. Steve made to stand, but his legs gave way and he fell back on his butt again. An EMT saw him and looked concerned at the white bandages peeking out from under the neck of his navy blue shirt.

"Commander McGarrett? Do you need an ambulance, sir?" he asked seriously.

"No, I'll... I wanna go with Danny – Detective Williams," Steve said and pushed himself up again. He was exhausted and ached all over, and by the stickiness he felt on his chest, knew he'd bust open a few stitches too. The EMT nodded.

Grace latched onto Steve's bloody hand, "Please, tell my Danno that I love him," she cried softly. He hugged her close and promised.

"Chin, secure the scene, lock that bitch down, and then you and Kono get checked out, okay?" Steve said as he climbed into the ambulance. He totally ignored Rachel.

The sirens and lights made a sure path for the ambulance all the way to Queens Medical, and Steve watched helplessly as Danny was wheeled away from him, hidden behind closed doors.

_He's in the best care... he's in the best care..._

The silent mantra was interrupted by a familiar face, and Steve sighed, wincing as his chest pulled, when the doctor that had reluctantly let him sign out AMA earlier lead him through to his own examination room.

**H-5-0**


	15. TG 15

**H-5-0**

Wyllie Street looked like a warzone, and the press were having a field day. In the back of the HPD police car, Alison smiled for the cameras until Chin spoiled her fun and told the officers to take her away.

Chin also made sure Rachel and Grace were driven home safely, with another officer following in the Mercedes. He wanted to comfort Danny's little girl, wanted to tell her that everything would be alright, but after seeing how close it had been to losing Danny, he wasn't so sure of that himself. What he was sure of though, was the carefully controlled anger seething beneath Steve's cool exterior. Anger directed at Rachel, and whatever she'd done, it must have been bad.

Kono coordinated the scene as best she could, until her cousin took her arm and handed the clean up detail over to Sergeant Lukela and the HPD. He gently escorted her to the car. It was time to get out of there, and they silently drove to Queens Medical.

~o~

After a stern scolding from the duty nurse – and how did they always manage to find him? – Steve was sat quietly in the waiting room. He'd ripped several stitches open doing CPR on Danny, but with a dose of painkiller coursing through his system, not even the bad hospital coffee and hard, unforgiving chairs bothered him.

He still had plenty of time to think though. There was still no word on Danny, but he took that as no news was good news, and refrained from making a nuisance of himself by throwing his Five-O status about. Not that he sorely didn't want to... _God_ he so wanted to flash his badge and demand an update!

He was going stir crazy not knowing!

The memory of Grace's sobbing cries quickly brought Steve crashing back down into the hard plastic chair. And her words to Rachel... _"You didn't let me see him, mommy, and now... What if he leaves me? Daddddy!"_ Well, they just made everything a little clearer.

Steve had really hated very few people in his life - Victor Hesse being right at the top of his list. But at that moment, the hatred he felt for Rachel nearly floored him.

How could she deliberately keep a little girl away from her daddy?

Oh yeah, Steve could hazard a good guess at Rachel's reasons behind her rash and, in his opinion, heartless actions... had heard enough to formulate his own judgement since he'd known Danny, as his partner liked to rant about his ex-wife quite often, but this was a person's life Rachel was playing with. Didn't she get that?

Steve wasn't privy to everything that had happened between Danny and Rachel since the incident with Peterson, but he knew enough and his mind was pretty good at filling in the blanks.

And it wasn't pretty.

After Grace had been found tied up in that storage locker, Steve should've insisted that Danny see someone. He should've insisted! Then Danny might've handled the inevitable fallout better. But the stubborn New Jersey hardass just laughed that idea off, shrugging that everything was fine, and twisting it right around to assess the issues Steve had because he stored grenades in the Camaro's glove box, about how much of his life revolved around armed conflict, and that he probably cuddled up with a survival knife –_ just like Rambo's_ – at night.

Danny had suffered his own private hell for months, and had suffered alone. And then, to top it all off, they'd had to deal with the Island Slasher case, where Alison, that psycho bitch, had picked Danny to taunt and drive right over the edge.

Now what did Danny have to fight for? Because of Rachel, he'd lost his daughter. Because of Alison, Danny had lost his Ohana, or so she'd manipulated him into thinking.

Oh, Steve was looking forward to interrogating Du Pont in the morning... he was looking forward to it like a lion taking down its prey. He was going to shred her alive.

But right now, with Danny's blood staining his shirt and pants, and still under his fingernails, no matter how many times he'd washed his hands, what he needed was _any_ news on his partner.

Chin and Kono found Steve in the waiting room, quietly staring at the dregs of his cold coffee in the bottom of a Styrofoam cup, and joined him. They'd both been checked over and released with instructions to rest at home, but had stayed instead.

Of course they stayed. One of their own was fighting for his life... it was where they needed to be.

Kono sat next to Steve and placed a comforting hand on his arm. Steve startled a little, blinked, and then sighed heavily.

"You okay?" she asked. Chin pushed coins into the coffee machine by them, but he was watching Steve carefully too.

"Yeah. Just... y'know," Steve muttered. He looked down and frowned. Chin gave Kono her coffee and sat beside them.

"Any news yet?"

Steve just shook his head. He stiffened a moment later, looking at Chin worriedly, "Grace?"

"It's okay, she went home with Rachel," Chin answered softly, frowning when Steve shot to his feet and started pacing. "Steve-"

"No, Chin... You didn't see him. You didn't see the devastation on Danny's face when he told me about the hearing. Man... I didn't know. No one knew!" Steve said dragging a hand through his hair. "All this time. All this time she'd stopped Danny from seeing his daughter. I mean, what sort of a person does that to someone?"

Neither Chin nor Kono could answer that. They didn't know either. Was Rachel really that cold?

Stopping mid pace, he leaned over fractionally, and planted his hands on his hips to stop them shaking. "Do you know she's taken out a restraining order against Danny? A restraining order, for fucks sake," he hissed, "To keep him from seeing Grace!"

Twin looks of shock stared dumbfounded at him. The pacing resumed. Kono shook her head, still unable to believe that anyone could do such a cruel thing.

"Seriously?"

"Oh, I'm deadly serious, Kono," Steve spat. He waved a hand, cutting it through the air, "She sued him for full custody... and won. Danny is in there right now thinking he's got nothing left to fight for anymore."

"No, he has us," Kono shook her head looking distraught. Chin bit his lip and pulled her into a hug. Steve stopped still and sighed.

"No... No, he doesn't. Alison Du Pont saw to that. She made him think we were dead, told him it was all his fault." He turned, dropped his eyes to the floor and added quietly, "To Danny, there's nothing left for him."

Kono started crying silent tears that dripped unnoticed off her chin and soaked into her shirt. Chin rubbed a hand over his face and tipped his head back against the wall, trying to keep his emotions under control, and Steve, energy drained now, stood with his shoulders slumped, waiting for Danny's doctor. Waiting. Just waiting...

An hour later, a man in blue scrubs approached them.

"Family of Detective Daniel Williams?"

Steve jumped to his feet, Chin and Kono standing by each shoulder... all looking anxiously at the doctor.

"Yes. Commander Steve McGarrett. We're Five-O, he's my partner," Steve stammered. "Is Danny alright?"

Motioning the team to sit down, the doctor perched himself on a chair and introduced himself, "I'm Doctor O'Neill, the trauma surgeon that worked on Daniel. Let me tell you first that he is holding his own and we managed to stabilise him for the surgery he is currently being prepped for, alright?"

Steve nodded and felt Kono blow out a slow steadying breath beside him.

"Having said that, Daniel is still in critical condition. He coded twice more in the trauma unit, but we brought him back, and got his vitals back on track each time with minimal problems. He was suffering from severe hypovolemic shock when he was brought in, and we had to insert a central venous line to try and get his blood pressure stable. Fluids and units of blood have been given, but he's still going to need a lot more. The bullets shattered ribs and perforated Daniel's spleen, and compromised his diaphragm, puncturing his left lung, but we won't know the extent of the damage until later. He also presenting with a grade two concussion, and we're keeping an eye on possible brain swellings, but so far it's looking good. Do any of you have any questions at this time?" O'Neill waited for the information to sink in.

"How long will the surgery take?" Chin asked when both Steve and Kono sat silently trying to absorb everything the doctor had said.

"Could be a few hours, plus recovery time," O'Neill told them. "May I suggest you take that time to go home, rest, get a bite to eat? It's going to be a long night."

"Can we see him?" Steve needed to know, needed to see for himself that his partner was still alive. The doctor shook his head.

"I'm afraid not at the moment. I'm sorry. But we will definitely let you know if his status changes, and when the surgery is through. We'll do our best for him."

The doctor stood up, Steve automatically got to his feet too. He held out his hand, "Thanks, doc."

"Of course," O'Neill nodded. "Seriously, get some rest. You guys look like you need it. Daniel has a hard recovery ahead of him and he'll need his friends and family."

With that, the doctor left. Steve sat back down.

"Steve, c'mon, go home, get some rest," Chin said already gathering Kono to take her home. Steve looked up and shook his head. His posture screamed exhaustion, and the dark circles under his eyes looked worse against his pallor.

"No, I can't. I need to be here," he said quietly. Chin and Kono exchanged looks. Stubborn SEALs!

"Yeah, okay, brah," Chin sighed. "We'll go get some food from the cafeteria and be right back."

Frowning, Steve shook his head. "No, you guys go home, sleep. I need you to-"

"Hey, look, boss, if you're staying here, then so are we," Kono shrugged, deliberately wincing in pain a little. It was dirty pool, but she wasn't above playing if it meant getting Steve to go home and rest. "Ohana, right?"

Chin sat down stiffly, hugging his arm to his side, rubbing over the bandage hidden under his shirt. Steve scowled at them both. He threw up his hands and rolled his eyes.

"Right, alright, fine," he sighed heavily. He knew he was beat. "Barbeque and sleep at mine, back here in four hours. Good enough?"

Jumping up, both the cousins smiled and nodded. "Good enough. Let's go."

Before leaving the hospital, Steve made sure that they knew it was imperative he be called if _anything_ changed with Danny, and especially when the surgery was over.

**H-5-0**

Governor Denning was not pleased with the news reports monopolising every news station. The capture of the Island Slasher was practically being glamorised, with the woman herself being made celebratory status. It made him sick.

Wyllie Street in Honolulu had looked like a warzone, and although he was not exactly happy with the way Five-O and the HPD had handled the situation, he couldn't really complain because, miraculously, there had been no causalities – yet.

Detective Danny Williams was still in the OR fighting for his life.

He shook his head and switched off the TV in his office. There was a lot of clean up and damage control to do now. He hit the intercom.

"Elise, get a press conference set up. I need to stop this circus before it gets out of control."

"Yes sir."

**H-5-0**

Even though the steak was done to perfection, and Kono's quick tuna salad was mouth-wateringly good, Steve barely ate anything. His stomach churned with worry for Danny, and the little he did eat sat heavy and uncomfortable. Both Chin and Kono had crashed soon after they'd eaten, but sleep just refused to come for Steve. His mind wouldn't quieten down, and every time he closed his eyes, the image of Danny lying so still on that road, bleeding and dying, flashed horrifically bright. Hell, he could even taste the metallic tang of his friend's blood on his lips, still feel the warm stickiness on his hands.

Finally giving up, Steve took another quick shower before he found himself standing alone on his lanai, bare-chested with fresh dressings covering his stitches, and staring out at the moonlit calm ocean, his cell in his hand just in case the hospital rang.

"Hey, can't sleep?"

Turning, Steve saw Chin leaning up against the doorjamb in his T-shirt and shorts, hair sticking up. Both thighs and one shin had bandages taped to them, and he'd left the shallow cuts on his forearms open to the air. They stood out red and angry on Chin's tan skin, and Steve had to drag his eyes away when his own wounds began to throb at the sight.

"No," he murmured. "You neither?"

"Killer headache, man," Chin winced. "Got any Tylenol?"

"Yeah, yeah, 'course," Steve nodded quickly, heading back inside. He gave Chin the bottle and handed him a glass, "You alright?"

"Will be," Chin said swallowing two pills with a gulp of water. "I'll feel a hell of a lot better when we hear something from the hospital."

Simply nodding, Steve just sighed. He looked at the time – it had only been three hours, shit. "I need to be there," he said suddenly. "I'm just waiting, doesn't really matter where."

"Yeah, I agree," Kono mumbled from the stairs. She was dressed and trying to tame her hair, and looked like she could sleep for a month, but she had that determined look in her eyes.

They all just needed to see Danny through the surgery and let him know that he still had his ohana at his side.

**H-5-0**

**(Just like to remind folks I'm not a doctor, so apologies if my medical bits are off. Pretend it's all good, for the story, K? Cheers!)**


	16. TG 16

**Hi! Thank you so much for all the incredible reviews! I'm so happy! *beams* So I'm working to get the rest up asap... *fingers crossed*... Thanks again xxx**

**H-5-0**

It was another three hours sitting in the waiting room, when they all arrived at the hospital again. Despite the time, really late, or extremely early, depending on how you looked at it, the surgical ward buzzed with activity, the low noise level contradicting the constant back and forth of medical personnel around them.

It wasn't only them that couldn't sleep either, it seemed, when Max shuffled into the seating area, files tucked under his left arm, extra large travel mug of steaming hot coffee in his right hand, and settled himself down next to Chin. He'd assumed the Five-O team would be there and wasn't surprised to find himself correct.

"Hey, Max, howzit?" Chin nodded, already eyeing up the coffee with a jealous look. It smelled rich and smooth and _so_ not like the bitter hospital shit they were drinking.

"Is there any news on Detective Williams yet?"

"No, not yet," Steve answered, rubbing his hands over his face and leaning forward in his chair. He cocked his head and looked curiously at the files perched on the ME's knee. "What's all that?"

Frowning, Max slumped back for a short moment, blew out a breath and then sat back up straight again. "I am aware that this may not be the time nor the place, but I thought I'd bring you all up to date with what we found in the cave in the forest, the house at Kina Place, etcetera," he said quietly, making it sound like a question. Steve nodded. It would save him having to chase down the ME for the facts before he interrogated Du Pont in a few hours.

Max pulled up the sleeves of his _Star Trek_ sweatshirt and opened the top file. He handed small piles of photographs to Steve, Chin and Kono. They were of the cave, and its contents.

"Preliminary forensic analysis of the Passiflora tarminiana leaves and the soil on the cave floor show traces of blood from the first three victims, and then of course... yourselves too," he added with a disturbed frown. He took a deep breath, shoving _those_ images away and carried on, "The jars contained the heads of Detective Manny Nang, Detective Kona Hekekia, Detective Akoni Hale and Detective James Farrell – the four missing officers from the previous investigations. It's difficult to determine the exact time of death for each one due to the preservative fluid they are suspended in, but with time I may be able to be more accurate with my estimation."

Kono had those photographs, and she closed her eyes and gave them to Chin.

"Yes, the lead detectives of each previous investigation," Chin clarified, mind whirling as more pieces fell into place. "The initials carved into the wrists of the sixth victims... It's a part of her sick agenda."

"What is?" asked Kono already dreading the answer.

"Du Pont is _collecting_ them."

Silence fell for a moment as that horrific detail sunk in. Each spree, the Slasher had handpicked a trophy victim as her ultimate kill. And Danny had been her next prize.

Steve slowly went through the pictures he had, careful documentation of Danny's life over many months. Du Pont had been disturbingly thorough with her stalking, and he stopped at an image of Danny outside Queens Medical, a few days after he'd shot Stan in the shoulder. The man looked broken, distraught and barely keeping it together.

_Jesus, Danno..._ Steve stared at the photograph, hating himself for not seeing how badly his friend had been hurting.

"This is an altar, right?" Chin held up a picture. He couldn't quite remember everything he'd seen in the cave when he'd been there, but he thought he remembered that.

"We believe so, Detective Kelly," Max nodded. "Alison Du Pont, or Jacqui Calloway, may have created that in honour of her sister, Marie Calloway. The casket is hand crafted from mahogany, and along with that of Marie's, there is also evidence of other human remains in there too. From what we found at the house at Kina Place, we can assume correctly that the organs the Slasher takes from her victims are kept and placed within the skeletal remains of her sister, the latest being the heart of the last victim, Lilia Hin."

"Why?" Steve winced suddenly feeling sick. He put the pictures of Danny down and picked up the series of images from the house. The candles and hibiscus surrounding the decomposed skeleton almost gave the impression of compassion, but for the decaying liver, pancreas, and heart sat amidst the stained bones. He studied them for a moment, eyes narrowing, "Max, these organs, they're not in the right place."

"Very good, Commander," Max nodded. "Tests have shown that she places the organs on the opposite side of the body than normal."

"Mirror twin," Kono said, brows raised.

"Yes," Max agreed.

"So, she's killing these women to take the organs to do what... try and bring Marie back to life? What?" Steve asked blowing out a frustrated breath. God, his head ached and all these horrific facts were just not making sense.

"I highly doubt that, Commander," Max said softly seeing how fatigued the man was. "May I offer you some coffee?"

"No, no thanks, Max," he muttered and stood up, cautiously stretching his stiff muscles. "Then what? What's she doing, huh? Sounds like some sort of sick ritual."

"With the altar, that might not be too far off the mark, Steve," Chin murmured. "Comparing Alison Du Pont's sealed juvenile files and psychiatric assessment with the FBI profile of the Slasher-" he picked up the notes Max had with his file, "_A personality disorder marked by aggressive, violent, antisocial thought and behaviour, and a lack of remorse or empathy_. The violent way her mother and sister were killed caused a psychotic break, which manifested into a physical need after years of destructive anger..."

"At which time she could then act out that need," finished Max. He picked up a close up of Marie Calloway's stained skeleton. "From the soil particulates we took off the bones, it shows that the body was buried for at least seven years before it was... dug up again."

"Buried?" Kono frowned. "I thought the Search and Rescue reported that it was an animal attack that left nothing but mutilated remains behind."

"There is no evidence on the bones of Marie Calloway to show that she was attacked by wild animals," Max told her. "The skeleton is whole and undamaged."

"Right, well, at this point, I don't think we can rule out foul play now," Steve said, checking down the corridor again for Danny's surgeon. "I mean, for all we know, she could've murdered her mother and sister herself back then, and all this-" he indicated to the files with a sweep of his hand, "is because she liked it."

Looking at the image of the hibiscus and the candles around the skeleton again, the string of flowers carefully adorning the skull, Chin slowly shook his head, "I'm not so sure."

"Yes, I see," Max nodded, studying the picture curiously. The ME pointed to it, "See the way Alison Du Pont has arranged her sister's remains here? There's so much attention and devotion to the way she treats them, as though she still cares very much for her sister."

"Could be she just regrets what she did," Steve suggested bitterly.

"Maybe," Chin murmured.

The team fell silent for a minute, and Max reached into the pocket of his pants, pulling out a small plastic evidence bag. He handed it to Steve, "Charlie Fong said you wanted this."

It was Danny's shield. Steve took it out of the bag and held it for a moment, running his thumb over the cool metal, tracing Danny's badge number. "Thanks, Max... Yeah." He gave it a last look and put it safely in his own pocket for his partner, resting his hand over the small bulge.

Max nodded and opened another file. He shook his head at the contents and pulled in a shaky breath, "She followed Detective Williams around for months, watching him..."

Steve shuddered again. He snapped his eyes back to the ME and listened intently.

"...taking pictures, learning about him, _everything_ about him, so she could taunt him, push him to the edge." Max looked up. "She did the same to those previous police detectives too, although not to the scale of Detective Williams."

It was a game. A fucking game to the bitch!

Grabbing the file, Steve flipped through it to find photographic evidence of years of stalking. Whole series' of images capturing lives of the six other lead officers heading up the past Island Slasher cases. But Max was right, the pictures only dated from the beginning of each investigation.

What was so special about Danny this time to warrant _months_ of stalking?

Steve closed his eyes, committing everything to memory. Although they had enough physical evidence to convict Alison, and hopefully push for life in prison _without_ parole, the bitch had been meticulous and careful handling anything in the cave, so none of her fingerprints were actually found on the photographs, the casket, leaves on the ground, the altar, the jars, the victim's, their organs, or the knife that had been discovered in the house.

Her lawyer would no doubt use that to their advantage.

All they had on her for the moment, with irrefutable proof, was the attempted murders of three police officers and a Navy SEAL, and the kidnapping of Tammy Harper, but with the recorded voicemails, witness testimonials and the murder weapon, Steve was certain the bitch would at least be locked up for a good many years. That evidence, though circumstantial, was what linked her to the Island Slasher crimes, and he was fairly confident that a jury would take everything into serious consideration and find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Alison Du Pont was indeed guilty for the premeditated murders of forty two innocent people. They _had_ to.

He needed to get Alison to confess to the multiple murders over the years to seal her fate, and he planned to try and turn the tables and manipulate her in his own sick version of the game instead.

"Why every four years?" Kono asked. "Has that ever been figured out?"

"I have a theory about that, Officer Kalakaua," Max answered. "It was something in the psychiatric notes that caught my eye." He folded his fingers together. "It was a method of anger control. Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."

"Excuse me?" Steve blinked.

"According to her therapy sessions, Alison Du Pont's psychiatrist worked with her to organise her mind when the issues became too chaotic in her head. One way was to put them into groups... seven screams, six cuss words, five physical actions, etcetera."

"Huh, sounds like a quack to me," Kono mumbled, scowling into her cold coffee.

"I would not know myself, as I don't practice that area of medicine," Max shrugged, continuing with his theory, "Alison may have manipulated that method to suit herself. " He counted of on his fingers, "The seven years before she dug up her sister's skeleton, six victims each time, five victim's organs removed,"

"Four years between each murder spree," added Kono sitting up straight. Max nodded.

"Oahu, Maui and Hawaii; three islands," Steve said and then frowned. "Two?"

"Sisters, two sisters," Chin snapped his fingers. "Jacqui and Marie Calloway."

"And one carefully chosen officer of the law," finished Max.

_Danny_, thought Steve, closed his eyes and sighed heavily. _Oh God, Danny..._

~o~

It was just before four in the morning when the surgeon approached, looking tired but hopeful. Kono had finally given up fighting her body's need to rest and was currently leaned against Chin – both were lightly dozing, Max had been pulled away by a phone call twenty five minutes earlier, and it was Steve who quietly stood up, careful not disturb the others, and walked to meet the man in scrubs.

"Commander McGarrett? I'm Gerry Kanika, Daniel's surgeon."

Steve shook his offered hand and nodded. "How is he?"

The surgeon looked past Steve, "Would you like to wake the others?"

"Yeah," Steve nodded and walked into the rest area where he gently roused the sleeping cousins. "Hey, Danny's surgeon is here."

"Is he okay?" Kono immediately asked even before she opened her eyes.

Gerry Kanika smiled when he joined them, and sat down. "I'm pleased to say that the surgery went extremely well, and Daniel is now in recovery."

All three Five-O team members slumped in relief. Steve rubbed his face and nodded, muttering "Good, good... Thank God..."

"So, he'll be alright then," Chin said dragging his fingers roughly through his hair.

"Daniel's initial prognosis is good, although he is still listed as critical for the time being, and, due to the severity of his injuries, will be very closely monitored in the ICU," Kanika explained levelly, keeping his voice hopeful and serious at the same time. "The bullets penetrated the body at an angle here-" he indicated the place on the left side of his own body, "shattering three ribs and causing damage to his lung, and Daniel has a tube in place to help re-inflate it and drain excess fluid. The force of the trauma also cracked his sternum and tore his diaphragm. We repaired the diaphragmatic rupture and other numerous internal injuries caused by the fragmentation of the bullets and bones, had to wire his ribs back together, and we did manage to save his damaged spleen. The impact of the bullets was slowed considerably by the bones they hit, and the path, angled outwards rather than inwards towards the internal organs actually caused less damage than expected."

He let the surgical report sink in before adding, "We've placed him under heavy sedation for the next few hours as his vitals are still a little unstable, and he's on a ventilator to help him breathe. We're also still monitoring for complications with the grade two concussion he sustained. Daniel has a long road to recovery, and will need a lot of support as the pain he's going to experience will be extremely uncomfortable." He smiled tightly and a small frown creased his brows.

Christ, it was a lot to take in, and Kanika's words whirled around Steve's head, making him slightly nauseous. He noticed the small frown though and narrowed his eyes. "What aren't you telling us?"

"Daniel's blood results show that his system is severely run down," the surgeon started seriously, "and the exhaustion, anaemia and apparent loss of weight may cause complications in his recovery. We're doing everything we can to help Daniel, but you need to be aware that his condition may abruptly worsen due to the stress already on his body."

All the stress and heart crushing issues that Danny had had to deal with the last few months suddenly swept through Steve in one huge emotionally charged wave, and he covered his mouth with a hand and held his breath, fighting to keep the distress inside.

All the shit Rachel had given him, taking Grace away, refusing to let Danny see his daughter... For months he'd dealt with that, _alone_.

_Months!_

And then the Island Slasher and her sick game, taunting Danny, making him think his team was dead, _staging it so he'd find their mutilated, bloody bodies!_

Shot three times, point blank, and a grade two concussion was serious enough for anyone to have to recover from. Add severe stress, and Steve found himself silently praying.

_Please, God, please help him fight; give him the strength to fight... for Grace, for us. Please don't take him from us..._

"Can we see him?" Chin asked a little shakily.

Kanika hesitated, seeing how close these people were to his patient, and then answered, "I'll send a nurse for you in a few minutes. Just let me make sure he's settled."

Steve stood when the surgeon did and nodded his thanks, still not trusting his voice. He watched Kanika disappear down the corridor before turning to the others. It had been both good and worrying news. While they felt totally relieved that Danny was still alive and had survived the trauma of multiple gunshot wounds and emergency surgery with an optimistic prognosis, they were also scared that, even surviving all that, his weakened body wouldn't be able to cope with the recovery process.

It wasn't only Danny's physical state either, it was his mind too. Danny had to want to fight, had to have something in this world to need to fight for.

And Danny believed he had nothing.

That thought was clear on Chin's and Kono's sombre faces too, and Steve swallowed hard.

Ten minutes later, they were stood quietly by Danny's bed in the ICU.

Reaching out, Steve gripped the bed rail with a white knuckled fist, as his eyes drifted over the numerous machines, hissing and bleeping, telling Steve that his partner was still alive. Danny looked so small under all the wires and tubes, lying pale and deathly still against the harsh white sheets. A huge dressing stretched across his chest hiding what Steve guessed would be a huge surgical scar alongside the bullet wounds, with a small gap for the chest drain at the side. Dark bruising reached up to Danny's throat, standing out harshly against his pale skin

Blood and fluids from five – and Steve counted – bags snaked into both arms and a cannula at Danny's neck, but what disturbed Steve the most was the ventilator. It covered Danny's mouth, the big, thick tube sticking up and to the side, pumping oxygen with rhythmic hisses into his lungs, and Steve knew until it had gone, he'd never hear Danny's voice again... the ranting, complaining, and oh boy, Steve could already guess what he'd start with...

...Yeah, he'd really missed that.

As a SEAL, Steve has lost fellow soldiers before in the line of duty and had silently grieved and moved on. He'd been trained to compartmentalise, to ignore emotions in order to perform his duties to the best of his abilities, but this time... Danny... Danny wasn't a soldier, he was a friend. A _good_ friend who'd somehow barged right into Steve's life with his loud mouth, honest (if blunt) attitude, and steadfast loyalty to stand by his side as his partner and friend... Who'd welcomed Steve into his own little family unit, often bringing Grace over to his house, on the weekends he had his daughter, to spend time with him, and Steve had found himself looking forward to those times, (times he desperately missed now).

Although Danny had never said, Steve wasn't naive to think his friend didn't know how he felt, that for the first time, in a long time, almost from the day he met him, Steve had opened his heart and let Danny in and take root.

Losing Danny now would take a piece of Steve's soul, and there was no way he'd be able to compartmentalise this time.

"Does anyone have any questions?" Danny's critical care nurse asked quietly, startling Steve slightly.

"Ah, can we..." Kono started reaching out hesitantly.

"Of course, just be careful of the tubes, but you can touch," the nurse – Pauli, it said on her nametag – smiled. Kono curled her fingers around Danny's cool ones.

"When will he wake up?" Steve murmured, his eyes still on Danny's pale, bruised face, and the neat little row of stitches just above his eyebrow.

"Not for another good few hours at least. His vitals are still a little unsteady, so until then we're giving Danny's body the chance to heal a little before we hand that job back to him," Pauli said.

The steady beep of the heart monitor complimented the regular hisses of the ventilator, the sound almost hypnotic, until an alarm sounded and Steve looked up in panic. "What's that? What's going on?"

The nurse clicked a couple of buttons on the machines and quickly recorded the change on Danny's notes. "It's nothing to worry about, just have to readjust his oxygen levels."

The look on her face was warm and professional, and Steve wished he could feel as calm but with the worry, fatigue, and the constant dull throb of the stitches and knife wounds, he just felt helpless and frustrated. God, how had they come to this? He was a Navy SEAL, he never left a man behind. He should've been there with Danny at the hearing, given him the support he desperately needed, then maybe he wouldn't have 'found' their bodies, Danny would still know that he had his ohana.

And Danny wouldn't have gone after Alison Du Pont alone.

But these past months, Danny had hidden himself behind a facade so well that it even fooled him. Even when he saw the downward spiral into depression, Steve still foolishly believed Danny when he said he was fine. He didn't even question the fact that Danny hadn't brought his daughter to the house even once in the last few months, believing that any precious time Danny had had with Grace, he'd want to spend it alone with her.

But now... Now he knew the truth. He'd let his friend down, and for that, Steve would never forgive himself, and he just hoped Danny lived so that he could tell him how sorry he was for not being there for him.

_You'd better fight, Danno... I need you in my life... Grace needs you... Please..._

Steve watched as Kono wiped a sleeve over her damp eyes and stepped forward again, slipping her fingers under Danny's, whispering encouraging words to him. Danny didn't even twitch.

Damn it, Steve had to pull himself together – he had a serial killer to interrogate, and he stood up, pulled in a deep breath and forced himself to detach from the emotions that would compromise his task, pushing them behind a fragile wall of self-control and restraint.

"Steve?" Chin asked softly, not liking the sudden one-eighty in Steve's mood. He'd seen that look before in the days after his dad's death, the way Steve focussed all his energies on catching Hesse, and didn't allow himself to feel, to grieve.

Chin seriously thought Steve would've self destructed back then if it wasn't for one persistent, loud mouthed and brash New Jersey implant literally pulling him back from that edge.

When Steve looked at him, Chin frowned at the closed off expression. He wasn't seeing Steve right then, rather Lieutenant Commander McGarrett, Navy SEAL, and all the discipline and intense training with it. "What's going on, brah?" he murmured quietly, moving away from Kono.

With a tight smile, Steve nodded to Kono and the nurse and left the room, Chin on his heels. Once in the corridor he ran a hand over his face and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I'm gonna go interrogate Du Pont," he told Chin looking at his watch. It was just after four thirty in the morning.

Narrowing his eyes, Chin asked, "You sure you're up to that, Steve?" He held up a hand when Steve started to angrily object, "All I meant was this woman is evil and manipulative. You're exhausted and I'll bet you dollars to donuts that you have the headache from hell, right?"

"I've been worse and done a lot more," Steve answered cryptically if a little defensively.

"Of that I have no doubt," Chin nodded. He sighed knowing that nothing he said would persuade Steve to postpone the interrogation for another twenty four hours and give them all time to get the rest they all desperately needed. "Alright, listen. Why don't you take off now, go home, _sleep_ before you talk to Du Pont-"

"No, I'm-"

"Don't even, brah," Chin quickly held up a finger in a very Danny-esque fashion, making the protest lodge in Steve's throat. "Danny's not gonna wake up for hours yet, and if you're hell bent on getting in that interrogation room with that psycho bitch, then you _need_ to sleep, rest." He glared at Steve, "Or I'm telling Danny."

That brought Steve up short, and he blinked, "What is this, high school?"

"No," Chin softened his voice, "This is the ICU where our friend and _kaikaina_ is fighting for his life, and he needs us in that fight."

Steve's eyes drifted towards Kono gently murmuring words he couldn't hear at Danny and sighed. He knew Chin was right, but he didn't want to leave his partner yet, every cell in his aching body needed to be there, to see those blue eyes open so that Danny would know he wasn't alone...

"You'll call me if _anything_ changes?" he said on a deep exhale, teeth gnawing unsurely on his lip.

"Kono will," Chin nodded. Steve snapped his eyes back to the detective. "I'm gonna be there with you. You're not doing this alone, brah, we need to nail this bitch to the wall."

Nodding, Steve suddenly felt the exhaustion creeping up on him and he walked back into Danny's room. Kono looked up with a watery smile.

"Hey, boss," she whispered, her fingers still stroking Danny's hand.

"You okay staying here all night?" Steve asked even though he already knew the answer.

"Yeah. Me an' Danny're gonna shoot the breeze, relax, maybe discuss the pros and cons of pineapple on pizza, y'know?" she nodded looking down at Danny again. The hiss of the ventilator filled the void until Steve acknowledged with a low chuckle.

"That ought'a be interesting, huh, Danny? Pineapple on pizza?" he said down at Danny's still form, knowing exactly where his partner stood in that debate. Still, anything that would set Danny off with a rant was okay in Steve's book right now.

Especially right now.

"I'll keep you updated, boss," Kono promised.

"Thanks. As soon as anything happens, or when he wakes... straight away, alright?" Steve insisted, and Kono nodded. "Okay, alright... okay..."

"C'mon, Steve," Chin urged when Steve seemed to hesitate. With a slight nod, he took a last look at his friend and partner, and then left.

**H-5-0**

**(Not a psychiatrist either, so pretend it's all good... for the story! *wink* Cheers!)**

Kaikaina - younger brother


	17. TG 17

**Hey you! Many thanks for even more awesome reviews, guys! I really appreciate it :o) **

**Bit to go yet, but working to get the rest up, promise! *hugs* Bryce x**

**H-5-0**

Alison Du Pont smiled to herself as she sang her favourite song over and over again. She wasn't the world's best singer, but she certainly sang with feeling.

She thought of Marie, of the times they had as children, and then of the times she shared her sister with the young women she took to meet her.

"Ahhh good times, hey, Marie?" she cooed loudly into the darkness, "Good times."

Outside her cell, the guard looked up when he heard the words – a conversation the prisoner was seemingly having with herself, and shook his head, mumbling, "Fucking lunatic."

She started singing again, the words filling the empty silence and the guard checked his watch with a grimace... _roll on clocking off time!_

Seven AM came slowly, and by the time his shift had ended, the frazzled guard was a hairs breadth away from ripping the fucking cell door off by its hinges and smashing Alison's head against the wall.

"All night, man... all fucking night long..." he muttered to the morning shift. "The same fucking song!"

Inside her cell, Alison just smirked.

By eight she was sat cuffed to a hard metal chair in the middle of an otherwise empty room, illuminated by blue-ish lights. She looked around curiously, her eyes eventually fixing on the door at one end.

"What do you think, Marie? Reckon it'll be the Commander himself?" She laughed aloud. "Oh yeah, I know what you mean... _that'll_ be fun!"

And then she started humming with a twisted smile on her dry, split lips.

**H-5-0**

Steve had managed to get two hours unbroken sleep before his eyes snapped open as the image of Danny, bleeding and dying on the road, invaded his mind again. He still felt rough, but it had to be enough, and he dragged himself out of bed and straight into the shower.

Chin managed three hours and still looked pale and exhausted, but refused to stay behind when Steve grabbed his truck keys. Coffee and sweet pastries later, they were both feeling marginally more human, and walked into the Five-O headquarters with a determined step.

Chin had texted Kono in the truck asking after Danny, both he and Steve hoping for a little good news, but the answering text just said 'no change'.

"Okay, let's do this," Steve nodded to Chin. Earlier, he'd organised Alison Du Pont's transfer to the interrogation cell for eight AM, and with a last deep composing breath, they entered the room.

Alison looked up and smiled widely at the two Five-O Task Force members. "Good morning, Commander McGarrett, Lieutenant Kelly. And how are we feeling today, gentlemen?" She let her eyes wander over their bodies, not actually seeing the bandages hidden under the long sleeved shirts, but knowing they were there, "Not too sore I hope?"

Neither man even graced that with an answer. They approached her and just glared. She didn't even flinch under the hard scrutiny.

"Ooo, Marie, isn't that hot?" she breathed a little excited, her eyes dancing from Steve to Chin. "Look at them... standing there, all serious attitude and, mmmm, tight muscles."

Both ignored her.

"Mary Newell. Jane McAvoy. Andrea Colton. Teresa Maine," Steve suddenly reeled off. Alison shrugged her shoulders, looking slightly bored. Steve added the names her more recent victims, "Grace Collins. Laura Mamala. Lilia Hin..."

"Never heard of them. Who are they, you're ex girlfriends?" she sneered, taunting, "Oh, forgot, you're a Navy SEAL. No time for girlfriends, isn't that right, Steven? Even the pretty Lieutenant Catherine Rollins isn't really a girlfriend, right? More of a convenient fuck buddy, right?"

At the mention of Catherine's name, Steve's left eye twitched, but he managed to keep his rage at the bitch even daring to say her name locked up safely inside.

"Detective Manny Nang, Detective Kona Hekekia, Detective Akoni Hale, Detective James Farrell," he listed instead, his voice steady and hard.

"Oh, okay, so I shan't ask if you don't wanna tell, Steven," Alison winked salaciously. She smiled and cocked her head, clearly not intimidated by the full on thousand yard stare Steve currently pinned her with.

"Nineteen eighty one, you murdered your mother and your sister, disposed of your mother's body and buried Marie's-"

"No!" she vehemently interrupted Chin, her face twisting into anger. Chin merely raised his eyebrows.

"You buried Marie's body and walked out of the forest without a scratch," he finished calmly.

"No, no... No, you don't get to say her name, you don't say her name!" Alison growled, teeth flashing.

Steve and Chin exchanged glances, this was the way to push Alison to the edge, to shake her enough to confess... using her sister as a way in. Steve relaxed his stance and looked down his nose at her.

"Just to let you know, we have your sister's remains on a cold slab in the ME's lab," he said matter of fact, "and after we've finished with them, they'll be cremated."

Alison's face went red with fury. "How dare you! How dare you even _touch_ her," she spat, spittle spraying.

With a fast move that made Chin even jump a little, Steve was abruptly in Alison's personal space. "Oh, I dare, and what's more," he hissed, eyes narrowing, "I'm gonna make sure you never see her again."

Alison screamed out and struggled in her chair, but within a second she stilled and calmed down, an evil curl twisting her bruised mouth into an ugly smile.

"He thinks he can keep us apart, Marie," she sneered, dark eyes holding Steve's. "Yeah, I know... no one will _ever_ keep us apart."

Huffing out a humourless laugh, Steve stood back up and folded his arms. The woman was certifiable, or so she was trying to make him believe she was. But Steve wasn't convinced. If anything, Alison was a cold, calculating evil bitch, who knew exactly what she was doing.

"Bet you're pissed that your little game was fucked up, huh? You got careless, lazy, you underestimated us, and this time you got caught." He turned to face Chin, who was silently watching the exchange. "You're gonna fry for what you've done, Du Pont. You're gonna fry for each and every life you've taken."

Chin nodded in agreement, and repeated the names of the victims again, each time pulling the corresponding photograph of each woman from his file and holding it up.

"Mary Newell. Jane McAvoy. Andrea Colton. Teresa Maine. Kele Pali." He stepped forward and carried on. Alison stared at Steve, that small evil smile still playing on her lips. "Colleen Reeves. Annabel Berry. Jenny Hu. Kiki Tate. Mary Harrow. Lani Kalili. Holly Davenport. Jai Wah..."

Steve walked slowly across the room letting the names of the dead victims echo around the silence. Alison tracked his movements.

"...Melia Kukua. Rachel Wayne..."

She didn't remember the names of everyone she'd murdered, but each one now sparked a small zing of excitement inside her, and she could feel the telltale heat of the same thrill she'd felt with every slice of her knife as years of memories flooded back like a sun warmed gentle ocean wave. She breathed out slowly, finally letting her eyes close, and savoured.

"...Brittany Cole. Lacey White-"

Seeing what looked almost like a disturbing look of ecstasy on Alison's face, Steve quickly motioned Chin to stop listing the names. Fucking psycho was getting off on it. Alison's eyes instantly snapped open.

"Oh, oh, you want Detective Kelly to carry on?" Steve asked airily, absently inspecting his fingernails.

Trying not to rise to the bait and get riled by the way Steve was acting so indifferent about disrupting her memories, Alison took a deep breath, shook her head and raised her eyebrows. "I have no idea who those people are, Steven, why would I want Detective Kelly to carry on?"

Not fazed by that, Steve just shrugged. "How did it feel, huh? How did it feel to slice into their flesh?" he asked nonchalantly. "How did it feel to stick that knife into your mother and sister? How did it feel to watch how they suffered and died by your hand, huh, Alison?"

Alison scowled hard and ground her teeth. "You don't know," she growled at him. "She did it, not me."

"Who?" Chin frowned. Alison blinked, that same ugly smile forcing its way onto her mouth again.

Seeing that she wasn't going to answer that, Steve then told her, "You led us right to your cave. Told Detective Williams where it was with a voicemail we still have as evidence."

"Not my cave, I found it," she lied easily. "And as for the voicemail, well, that was a joke. Danny is so easy, and it was fun, wasn't it?"

Chin narrowed his eyes, "If it wasn't _your_ cave, why did we find your sister's casket in there?"

"Someone stole it?"

"From where?" Steve pointed out. "She was never properly buried. Marie and your mother were murdered in the forest and left to be torn apart by animals, weren't they?"

Alison glared at him in silence.

"You must've really hated your mother," Steve added, "and your sister, to do what you did. Why was that, huh? Violent home life? Did your mom beat you? Did she favour Marie over you? Was it jealousy that drove you to take that knife and kill them in cold blood?"

The sound of grinding molars made Steve smirk. Oh yeah, sore point...

"Or was it because they thought of you as a freak?"

Wide eyes pinned Steve where he stood. Chin looked at Steve too, wondering where he was going.

"Marie was your twin, wasn't she?" Steve carried on. "A mirror twin, right? You, however, were the mirror, with your organs on the opposite side of your body." He pointed to her torso. "S'that why you did it, because your mom and sister saw you as a freak?"

"No, they were the freaks... She, she... Marie..." Alison clamped her mouth shut and looked away. When she looked back, her face was calm and controlled, almost cold. She nodded, smiling widely at Steve. "Oh, I know you do, Marie, I love you too," she murmured softly before starting to sing under her breath.

Both Steve and Chin recognised the song, _At Seventeen_.

"Why'd you do it?" Steve asked suddenly.

"Why did I do what, Steven?" Alison shrugged innocently. She decided she liked this game. Williams had ruined her plans, messed everything up, but this new turn was proving to be perversely interesting. She blinked and cocked her head to her left shoulder and grinned crookedly. "Why'd I shoot Danny? Is that what you wanna know?"

The sharp intake of breath was not missed by her and she squinted menacingly, almost gleefully, at Steve. "You wanna know why I jammed his gun in his ribs and put three bullets into him?" She closed her eyes and tipped her head back, taunting, "Oh yeah, I can still feel his warm blood on me, y'know? I can still smell his fear..."

Chin shot Steve a worried look, but he needn't have. Those damned SEAL walls were back up and Commander McGarrett was firmly already in control again.

"If he dies," Steve warned, letting just enough emotion through to play her at her own game. Alison immediately latched on.

"What? If he dies... then I win." She looked up at Steve. "You know, Danny Williams was my best conquest yet. He was a delight to taunt... unpredictable and yet I played him like a well tuned instrument. You gotta admit, my poor little victim performance was Oscar worthy. Had him – had you all fooled!"

"He had you figured out," Steve reminded her, tamping down on the guilt that he hadn't listened to Danny when he should have. "You're not that bright."

Alison bristled at the insult, muttering under her breath.

"What's that?" Chin inquired and she quickly shut up, but he'd already caught what she was murmuring and repeated, "Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."

The look of surprise that flashed in her eyes was gone as fast as it was there, and she looked away a little uncomfortable. That was hers, _only_ hers.

Steve saw the unsettled posture. "You think we don't know what that means, huh?" Alison ignored him, squeezing her eyes shut tight. "Seven years... Six victims... Five organs... Four-"

"NO!" she barked frantically shaking her head. "No, no... I didn't, Marie... I didn't... I didn't tell them, there's no way... Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one... Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one... Seven, six-"

"Four years... Three islands..."

"Shut up! Shut up!"

"Six victims every four years, Alison," Steve persisted. "You murdered six women, cut out an organ to place within the remains of your sister, every four years, Alison. Forty two victims. Forty two people, Alison. It's enough! You're done!"

"NO! You're wrong!" she yelled scowling hard at him. Her eyes darkened with fury, "You're all wrong. Everything you have on me is circumstantial. I am not admitting to the murders of anyone. Prove it, Commander, I dare you to!"

"I don't have to prove anything... I don't have to because we have you," Steve smiled coldly which made her look a little unsure. "We have the evidence from the cave. We have the evidence from the house. We have your knife, the one you hacked all those people to death with. We have what we need. You really think you've done enough to cover your tracks, huh?" He leaned in, murmuring heatedly, "You're already going down for the attempted murder of three police officers and a Navy Commander, and kidnapping, and I'm going to make sure they give you the maximum sentence. I'm going to make sure they put you in general population, Alison. You murdered teenagers." Steve put his mouth close to her ear, "How long d'you think you'll last once word gets 'round that you took the lives of innocent young girls, huh?"

Alison held very still, her hands curling into fists in her cuffs.

"I'm thinking you'll not even have time to say hello. Then no one will remember who you are, and the Island Slasher will be forgotten like the piece of fucking trash you are."

_No, I'll be remembered for years,_ she though angrily, rage bubbling up. _I'm the Island Slasher! Everyone will know of me! I've made my mark on these fucking islands for years._

Steve stood up slowly. "General population," he reminded her.

"You can't do that," she hissed swallowing hard, her mouth suddenly dry.

"Watch me," Steve growled. Chin closed his file and silently headed to the door, playing his part. Alison struggled in her chair and screamed. Steve nodded at Chin, "We're done here."

"No you're not, you bastards, we're not done," Alison yelled vehemently. Both Steve and Chin turned to look at her. "You can't do that, I have rights!"

"Rights? Rights? You mean like the rights you took away from all your victims?" Steve shouted back, his hand slicing through the air.

She blatantly ignored him and demanded, "I want my lawyer. You don't get it, do you?"

"Get what exactly, Du Pont?" Chin snapped.

"Fuck, you people are fucking stupid," she yelled hoarsely. "You have nothing on me, you idiots. _Circumstantial,_ motherfuckers! You can't pin those murders on me, _any_ of them! You know it and I know it."

"Oh, but we can and will," Steve calmly assured with a hint of a smile just to mock her. "I guess you're not aware that the U.S. Supreme Court has stated that circumstantial evidence is intrinsically no different from direct evidence. You're guilty, Du Pont, and a jury will convict you."

She just laughed in his face. It sounded horrible and wrong and echoed around the room... Alison du Pont wasn't going to confess to anything, no matter what they said. There was nothing else they could do but rely on the damning evidence they already had.

A moment later, Steve pulled in a shaky breath and stepped forward. He just needed to know, "Just tell me this. Why is Danny so special?"

The question stopped Alison laughing and she stared at him before a smile stretched her bruised mouth.

"You haven't figured that out yet?" she rolled her eyes and sighed. "Ah well, I guess that'll remain forever my little secret then. All I will say is that it was truly magnificent to see Danny Williams break so destructively. He's my masterpiece. He'll be a glorious prize for The Game." It was true, of all the detectives she'd chosen over the years, Danny was a true gem. His head would make a grand centrepiece for her collection, when she finally caught up with him again.

And she would.

"You're sick, Du Pont," Steve hissed, but Alison was singing again, swaying from side to side. "Hey!" He looked at her, snapped his fingers in front of her face, but she was in her own little world, ignoring everything around her. Turning to Chin, he murmured, "Lock her up, don't be fooled by this, she's as sane as they come, alright?"

Chin nodded, and Steve opened the door and walked out, leaning heavily against the wall as soon as he was around a corner. Jesus, it was fucked up, it was all fucked up.

His cell buzzed and he quickly yanked it from his pocket, heart stuttering when Kono's image flashed on the screen.

"McGarrett."

"Steve, it's Danny..."

**H-5-0**


	18. TG 18

**H-5-0**

Kono shifted awkwardly on her chair. The unforgiving hard plastic made her back ache, and the cuts hidden under her long sleeves itched and stung like a bitch. She'd been nursing a dull headache since she'd woken up in the hospital after being gassed, and rubbed her free hand across her forehead. Her other hand was still loosely wrapped around Danny's.

Nothing had changed in Danny's status since Steve and Chin had left, and Kono had eventually given into her fatigue and slumped by his bed. But she'd refused to leave.

Every so often Danny's nurse came in to check his vitals and readjust his medication, but through it all Danny hadn't even stirred. Kono knew he was still heavily sedated, but she just wished he'd let her know he was with them, still in there fighting.

"Don't give up, Danny," she whispered and gave his hand a squeeze. "Don't leave us, leave me." The nurse, Pauli, smiled softly at her when she walked in, picking up Danny's chart. Her eyebrows pulled in slightly when she checked the machines, and she leaned down, carefully using her thumb to gently pry open Danny's eyes.

"Danny?"

"Is there something wrong?" Kono asked alarmed.

Ignoring her, Pauli pressed the call button and pulled out her stethoscope, pressing the end to Danny's bruised chest.

"Pauli?"

"I'm sorry, I'm going to have to ask you to step out for a moment," Pauli said quickly ushering her out when a medical team hurried in. Kono stared wide eyed as Danny's sheet was pulled down to his waist and the large dressing covering his chest was removed.

Suddenly the machines started wailing, alarms blaring loudly in the quiet room, and the action around Danny's bed quickly became urgent.

"He's tachycardic," someone called out, which was immediately answered with, "Get the defibrillator."

"Shit, I lost the pulse!"

"Asystole! Start compressions, charge the defib."

"On milligram epinephrine in..."

"Okay, clear, people!"

Kono bit her lip hard, tears welling in her eyes, and she stumbled backwards out of the room shaking her head. "No, oh God, no... Danny..."

"Charge again... Clear!"

"Still asystole..."

"Come on, Danny, fight, man... Clear!"

A sob escaped her and Kono quickly fumbled for her cell. Steve needed to be here if... if Danny was...

"Wait..." the machine blipped once, twice, but then flatlined again, the clear long tone sounding harsh and frightening. "Okay, give him another milligram of epinephrine. Charged. Clear!"

Before she knew it, she'd called Steve's number, and held the phone up to her ear, her hand shaking.

"McGarrett."

"Steve, it's Danny," she said, her voice breaking on his name.

"Kono, what's wrong? What's going on, is he alright?"

It sounded like Steve was running, and that was good. "No. Oh God, Steve, get here, get here fast, okay?"

Danny's heart monitor stopped its wailing and started to bleep intermittently, until a steady rhythm sounded out. They'd got him back.

"Kono... Kono!"

"Yeah," Kono breathed.

"I'm on my way."

**H-5-0**

Steve grabbed Chin and they both rushed to the hospital, sirens blaring. All Steve could think about was the fear in Kono's voice along with the frightening commotion he could just about hear in the background of her frantic call.

It was Danny, and his own heart thudded hard in his chest making his ribs ache. _Oh God..._

The silence in the cab of his truck nearly smothered Steve... they were only minutes away but it still felt too damned long. He grabbed his cell and tried to concentrate on Kono's number, but his mind just whirled with the images of Danny lying so still on the bed in ICU, so still and pale... He gave up and tossed the cell to Chin.

"Call Kono, see what's happening."

Her call went straight through to voicemail. Steve speeded up even more.

Leaving the truck in the car park, Steve and Chin rushed up to the ICU ward of Queens Medical. They saw Kono standing by the nurses' station, arms tight around her body, worrying a thumb nail with her teeth. She immediately moved into Chins arms as soon as they approached.

Steve headed straight for Danny's room and just stood, staring wide eyed at the activity still mulling around his friend's bed.

"What happened?" he asked Pauli when she walked out just as x-ray machines were wheeled in.

"Danny suffered a small setback, Commander," she murmured quietly, steering Steve towards Chin and Kono. Once together, Pauli explained further, "He went into cardiac arrest, but we got him back. His doctor will be able to tell you more, but-" she smiled reassuringly, "he's still with us, okay?"

Rubbing both hands over his face, Steve blew out a breath and nodded. _Jesus..._ He turned to Kono and gently squeezed her shoulder.

"I thought he was gonna..." she whispered brokenly. "He flatlined. His heart stopped."

"Hey, hey, it's okay, cuz, he's back... they got him back," Chin soothed until Kono stopped shaking.

A few minutes later, Danny's doctor came out and joined them. Steve turned to face him, the question quickly tripping off his tongue before the man even had chance to introduce himself.

"What happened?"

The doctor, _Dr Kenneth Harding MD_ it said on his ID tag, gently ushered the small group towards a quiet seating area, away from the busy morning routines of the ICU.

"Detective Williams' condition has unfortunately deteriorated," he told them bluntly in a tone indicating that sugar coating anything now was just futile. "His vitals were already unsteady due to his existing exhausted condition and the added trauma of the shooting and surgery, but this set back is extremely unsettling."

Kono's hand flew to her mouth and Chin lips thinned with worry. Steve stared intently at Harding, his hand already gesturing him to go on.

The doctor pursed his lips. "Commander McGarrett, I did two tours in Afghanistan when I was in the Medical Corps, and I... I've seen this before," he said quietly.

Steve shifted in his seat and frowned. "Seen what exactly?"

"There's nothing physically wrong with Detective Williams to explain the current sudden decline in his condition. I know you were told that Daniel's pre-existing poor health could cause complications in his recovery, but the surgery was successful and his injuries are physically healing as well as can be expected."

"He was shot three times," Chin reminded him, "Point blank range."

"Yes he was, but as I said, Daniel came through his surgery to remove the bullets and fragments, and repair the damage they caused, with minimal difficulties." He glanced back towards Danny's room and frowned. "At this stage of his recovery, we should be starting to wean Daniel off the ventilator, and be reducing his sedation, but his body is weakening." Turning to face the team, he added quietly, "Look, in the 'Stan, I saw injured soldiers simply lose the will to live... like they had nothing to fight to live for."

In a way Doctor Harding made sense to Steve. It was the last thing he wanted to hear, but Steve wasn't completely surprised that Danny was giving up. In his mind, he'd lost his daughter... he'd lost his friends, his ohana...

"I'm not gonna let that happen," he shook his head. _No way!_ "Danny's gotta fight, he has to. He has a daughter, he has a _family_..."

Harding sighed and just shrugged. If only it were that simple. "It's down to Daniel, now. You need to make him believe he has all that, or..." he didn't finish the rest. Everyone knew how that sentence ended.

"Can we see him?" Kono asked. Harding nodded.

"Yes, by all means. Talk to him," he said. "In light of what's going on with him, we're going to start reducing his sedation as soon as his vitals have settled a little more. X-rays have shown that this latest trauma hasn't damaged his ribs or sternum further, but he'll be in a lot of pain when he wakes up. So talk to him... let him know he's not alone." He looked earnestly at them all. "Make him remember he has something to fight for."

"Okay, thanks doc," Steve nodded absently rubbing at his sore chest. The ICU doctor smiled kindly and left them alone.

Chin urged Kono to stay sitting down for a moment while he got her some water from the cooler. "Here, cuz," he said softly encouraging her to drink. It was obvious by the puffy dark circles under her eyes and her pallor that she was close to collapsing herself.

"Chin, take her home," Steve murmured quietly. Kono looked up sharply and shook her head. "Kono, you're exhausted. You need to sleep or you'll end up in your own hospital bed."

"He's right," Chin agreed.

"No, I can't leave... What if-"

"I'm not gonna let that happen, okay?" Steve quickly told her. He knew she was scared that Danny would crash again, hell, they all were, but Steve was going to make damned sure his partner and friend fought harder now.

Sighing heavily, Kono nodded. She stood when Chin held a hand out for her, and let him escort her from the seated area. "You'll call if..." she stopped suddenly and asked Steve.

"Slightest twitch. I promise," he answered sincerely. She nodded and slowly walked away.

Chin turned back at the doors, "Call _me_, Steve... Any change, alright?"

Steve watched them leave before taking a deep breath and heading for Danny's room.

He was alone now, lying still and disturbingly fragile against the white sheets of his bed. The machines steadily beeped and hissed in the silence, the only indication that Danny was still with them.

Steve slowly walked in and stopped at the side of his bed, looking down with troubled eyes. The tube taped to Danny's mouth drew his gaze and he swallowed hard.

"You have to fight, Danno," he whispered slipping his hand under Danny's limp one and gripping gently. "You have to come back to us, to me... We're here and we need you. Grace needs you..."

Danny's bruised chest rose and fell in time with the ventilator.

Leaning closer, Steve laid his other hand on Danny's cool brow just above the neat line of stitches. "We didn't leave you. We didn't die, Danny... She lied to you," he told him firmly. "So you see, you have family to fight for. Ohana, Danno, you gotta fight for us, okay?"

Pauli and Doctor Harding quietly came in and Steve pulled back. "Sorry, Commander," Pauli smiled and they carefully proceeded to check Danny's vitals again. With a nod, Harding stepped forward.

"I'm going to start reducing his sedation now," he said and fiddled with the IV machine. Steve watched every move he made. "Okay, we should start seeing a change in his condition soon." The doctor turned to Steve. "Daniel will most likely fight the ventilator at first before becoming aware of his surroundings. This will be a good thing," he hastily added when Steve looked alarmed. "When that happens, hopefully he'll be over that first important hurdle. In the meantime, like I said... let him know that he has something to come back for."

Simply nodding, Steve bit his lip and watched the IV slowly drip fluid into Danny's arm. The doctor smiled and left leaving Pauli. She handed Steve the call button, "Use this, or just poke your head out of the doorway if you need me, Commander." She smiled warmly. "Can I get you a coffee?"

Blinking, Steve took the call button and looked at her. "Um, ah yeah... that'd be... Yeah, thanks," he mumbled.

"Black?"

"Yeah," he nodded his eyes drifting towards Danny's face again. Pauli patted his arm and left him alone. He dragged a chair over and sank his weary body into it, never letting go of Danny's hand. "Okay, buddy, so you're gonna wake up soon," he started, "The doc says you'll fight the vent, but that's okay because I know you wanna rant about everything, right?"

The ventilator hissed and clicked, the rhythmic bleeps carried on, but Danny didn't even twitch.

"And I know where you'll start... Foley catheters, huh?" Steve smirked. "Should be outlawed as evil dick torture devices, am I right?"

"I'm sure you are," Pauli chuckled when she returned with a mug of what smelled like decent coffee, and not the swill from the machines. She placed it on a table by Steve and smiled at him before leaving again, pulling a curtain partly closed to give him a little privacy. Steve for his part, flushed slightly.

"Christ, even unconscious you manage to make me embarrass myself," he chuckled shaking his head. He took a sip of his coffee and hummed in pleasure. It was good. "Looks like your nurse likes me, she brought me the good stuff."

"So, anyway," Steve sighed putting his mug down. He rubbed a thumb over the back of Danny's hand. "We interrogated Du Pont... turns out she's an absolute psycho crazy bitch, but you already knew that. She didn't confess like I wanted to... and fuck, I really wanted her to Danny, but with what we do have on her, she'll never see the outside of a prison cell again." He rubbed at the healing scars under the dressings on his forearms, murmuring softly, "I'm sorry. I should've listened to you. I should've been there for you, Danny, and I wasn't. I am so sorry you've had to go through everything alone, but I'm here now. You hear me? I'm right here, and you need to come back to me, okay?"

He watched Danny for a moment, silently willing him to wake up, but still, Danny slept on...

"I talked to Gracie. She told me to tell you that she loves her Danno. She misses you," Steve said, his throat closing up slightly. He cleared it and blew out a breath. "She misses you so much, Danny. We all do." He leaned forward. "C'mon, buddy, you have so much to live for, don't give up on me, alright? Don't give up..."

Fifteen minutes later, Pauli came in, smiled at Steve and checked on Danny. Her expression was calm and neutral and Steve sighed. No change yet.

When she'd gone, Steve stood up and bent in close, "Christ, you're the most stubborn, loud mouthed, argumentative, pigheaded... stubborn man I've ever met, Danny. Wake the hell up! I swear if you don't, I'm filling this room with pineapples, and eating pineapple topped pizza right here in front of you. I'm gonna drive your car and listen to cheesy music, and swap all your dress shirts for the loudest Hawaiian ones I can find," he threatened, his voice tapering off at the end. He sighed and stroked his fingers through the blonde hair. "Wake up, Danno, please..."

**H-5-0**


	19. TG 19

**H-5-0**

_...pineapples... pineapple topped pizza... gonna drive your car... swap... dress shirts for the loudest Hawaiian ones... can find..._

The snatches of words teased at the edge of his consciousness, fading in and out too fast for Danny to grab a hold of, but he felt the familiar warmth of good natured ribbing and let it wash over him. Maybe existing in an eternal afterlife with Steve McGarrett wouldn't be so bad after all.

He was floating in a void, a hollow, empty void, with no pain and the kind of deafening silence that would eventually make a sane person crazy if they'd had anything left waiting for them in the real world. Danny let himself drift, sinking further and further away from the echoing murmurs at the edges... He had nothing left. What was the point of fighting anymore?

Grace would be better off without him in her life. She didn't need the heartache and fear that Danny seemed to just cause. Oh, he loved her so much and would forever, and it broke his heart into a million pieces to know that he'd never hold her again, but... Grace would eventually forget him and move on.

_...Gracie... pretty pink dress... Please, come back to us... I miss you... barbeque... and Grace, miss you guys... Fight, damnit, fight..._

Danny's descent into oblivion slowed and he felt fingers touching his hair. A snap of irritation flashed through him. He felt the stroking again, and the irritation blossomed into annoyance and a memory, so strong, rolled right through him, _"Hey, touch the hair again, Steven, and I'm gonna shoot you in the face!"_

Steve.

He looked around the void but saw nothing but blackness.

_...scared her... Chin... Kono home... fight or she'll kick your ass... swear..._

The stroking was back and Danny impatiently tried to shake it away with an indignant yell.

But something was stuck in his throat and he suddenly couldn't breathe...

"_...fuck! Hey, someone... struggling... can't fucking breathe..."_

Danny panicked and felt his body slam into a wall of intense pain. He tried to scream out, but the breaths wouldn't come, and the darkness clawed at him, pulling him apart...

"_...down your throat... down, Daniel... you breathe, slow your breathing... Shit... fighting it... out..."_

Firm hands gripped his head, and Danny struggled even harder. People shouted around him, but he couldn't see them, and he couldn't hear the words through the hiss of white noise filling his head. Bright white light blinded him, and threatened to explode behind his eyes in a haze of pain...

"_... of three, Daniel, cough... hear me? Okay... two, three..."_

The tube was pulled out of his throat and Danny coughed violently until his chest burned, and then he dragged in a lung full of air. He could breathe... he could breathe...

They were the last thoughts as his eyes closed and he drifted off into oblivion again.

~o~

"You should've seen Gracie, Danny, she looked gorgeous in her pretty pink dress," Steve smiled. "Please, come back to us, you have to see her dance. I miss you both, you know. Maybe your next weekend with her you could maybe come to my house for a barbeque. Like you used to. You and Grace, miss you guys," and he really did. He missed Danny's little girl. He absently stroked Danny's hair again, "Fight, damnit, fight..."

Steve winced as he moved, the stitches pulling on his chest, but he carried on talking to Danny over the drone of the machines.

"God, Kono was so scared. You really scared her earlier. Don't ever do that again, okay?" he chided softly. "I told Chin to take Kono home, but you have to fight or she'll kick your ass. I swear, and you know she will."

Blinking, Steve suddenly snapped his eyes up to Danny's face. He was sure he felt... There! Danny's fingers twitched and before he could reach for the call button, Danny's body arched and stiffened, and the alarms all went off at once.

Panicked, Steve grabbed Danny's shoulders and tried to stop him struggling, but Jesus, the man never did anything by halves!

"Danny, hey, calm down... C'mon, breathe, babe... Fuck! Hey, someone help me here," he shouted urgently, "He's struggling, fighting me, and he can't fucking breathe. Get that tube out!"

Pauli and Doctor Harding rushed into the room and immediately jumped into action. Harding tried to get Danny to focus on him, "Daniel, can you hear me? You have a tube down your throat. Calm down, Daniel, it's helping you breathe," he explained, but Danny wasn't listening and his body started convulsing. "Slow your breathing for me... Shit, he's not gonna stop fighting it, let's get the tube out now!"

Moving to the head of the bed, Pauli firmly held Danny's head still while Steve grabbed the flailing arms. Danny only struggled harder, but Harding was fast and efficient and disconnected the vent and took a firm hold of the tube. Danny's wide eyes rolled back slightly.

"On the count of three, Daniel, cough. Can you hear me? Okay. One, two, three..." He carefully removed the tube and Pauli helped Danny over to one side as he coughed harshly.

"That's it, Danny, deep breaths... good," she encouraged, carefully laying him back against the pillow when he finally succumbed to his body's exhaustion.

Steve scrubbed his hands through his hair, leaving it standing up in short tufts. "Is he okay? Why isn't he awake?" he asked anxiously. Jesus Christ, that had been terrifying! Pauli raised the head of Danny's bed a little as Harding readjusted the medications and fixed an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose.

"He's just very tired, Commander," she said softly. "Waking up to a ventilator is quite a traumatic experience, but he did very well, and he's just sleeping now."

Doctor Harding turned from listening to Danny's chest and nodded. "This is a good thing, Commander. He's fought the vent and is breathing on his own." He gripped Steve's elbow gently, "His vitals are still stable. He's fighting, and that's what he needs to do. Keep talking to him, keep him here with us."

God, Steve felt like the world was crushing his shoulders. He hurt and was so fucking tired, but he was going to do this, he was going to make sure Danny fought his way back to them. Come hell or high water, Steve was not going to fail. He nodded and smiled determinedly as Harding left.

A paper cup of pills and a glass of water suddenly appeared in front of him and he looked up with a confused frown. Pauli stood there patiently holding them with raised brows.

"Just Tylenol and an antibiotic, Commander," she told him. "I happen to know you were a patient here yourself earlier for tetrodotoxin poisoning and stab wounds. Doctor Lamb, your attending physician, asked me to make sure you took these."

Steve held his hand out and Pauli tipped the pills into his palm. He scowled at them.

"Yeah, seems you have a bit of a rep, Commander, for neglecting to take your meds," Pauli murmured conspiratorially. Steve shot her a sheepish look, but popped the pills into his mouth anyway, washing them down with the water. She fished in her pocket and pulled out a small bottle. "Here, one pill three times a day. Don't forget again, okay?"

He rolled his eyes and watched her leave. Christ, he wasn't a child! But she might've had a point as he couldn't even remember what he'd done with the meds he'd been given earlier. Hell, Danny would have a field day with this, and he leaned forward to tell him, embellishing a little hoping that his friend would wake up and rant at him just for the fun of it.

"One, three times a day," he grinned shaking the bottle. "Hey! Maybe with you and your pills, we could start sounding like a pair of maracas, huh?"

Smiling at his own joke, he then pulled out his cell and sent Chin a quick text updating him and Kono on Danny's condition. He hit send with a relieved sigh.

By the time Pauli brought Steve another mug of coffee and a pre-packed cheese and ham sandwich, another hour had gone, and Danny was still sleeping, despite Steve's constant murmurings about the weather, surfing, his favourite weapons and stories he could share about his adventures in the Navy SEALs.

He cleared his throat, which was raw with talking, and thanked Pauli.

"You're welcome," she smiled at him, her cheeks dimpling. Steve watched her fiddle with the machines and take readings, biting into his sandwich and chewing mechanically. It tasted kind of like the plastic it came wrapped in, but after the first mouthful, Steve ate the rest when he realised how hungry he actually was. Pauli finished by straightening Danny's sheet over his chest before turning to Steve, "He's doing really well," she reassured him again. "I'll be just outside if you need me, okay?"

"Yeah, thanks," Steve nodded, "and thank you again for the-" he held up his mug and she smiled warmly.

"Well, just you and me again, buddy," he muttered when she'd left, moaning under his breath when he stood up feeling stiff and sore. Danny's face was turned slightly towards him on the pillow, and Steve cocked his head to the side and watched him sleep for a few moments. He could see Danny's eyes moving under his lids and wondered what he was dreaming.

"Hope it's a good one, Danny," he whispered, "About Gracie dancing at her recital maybe... or playing on the beach at my place while we watch her, with a couple of cold beers and some barbeque steak, huh?"

He drained his coffee and put the mug down, before reaching to slip his hand under Danny's again. "We'll have to do that, okay? As soon as you're outta here," he decided, "Party at my house. I'll get Kamekona to bring you that garlic shrimp you like so much. Kono can do her tuna salad and..." he sighed and rubbed a hand over his tired eyes. They felt gritty and he blinked them until they watered. "Grace. I'll talk to Rachel... get her to let Grace come too."

A small frown marred Danny's forehead and his breathing quickened for a second, but then evened out again. Steve blew out a breath and promised, "I swear, Danno, I will do everything I can to help you with your daughter. You'll not lose her... I promise, we'll not let Rachel take her away from you, alright?" He squeezed Danny's hand and slowly leaned over until his forehead gently rested against his partner's. "Grace needs you. She loves her Danno so much... Fight for her, Danny, fight for her and for us..."

That was how Chin and Kono found Steve when they quietly walked into the ICU.

"Hey, boss?" Kono murmured softly, Steve still jumped a little, but he slowly stood up and looked at them. They both still looked tired, but the break had done them good. Kono glanced down at Danny. "How is he?"

"Better, I think," Steve told them. "He woke up and fought the vent, and then fell back asleep."

"But he's just sleeping, and breathing on his own though, right?" Chin confirmed staring worryingly at his friend in the bed. Danny still looked pale and gaunt, with dark smudges under his eyes, but the absence of the vent lifted a little of the concern and Chin blew out a shaky breath of relief. God, it had been too close...

"Yeah. Doc says he's still stable, but he's still gotta fight." Steve turned back to Danny and stroked an errant hair from his face, smoothing a thumb over his brow when that frown returned again. "Hey, Danny. You gonna wake up anytime soon? You have some visitors..."

"Jesus, Steve, you look ready to drop, brah," Chin observed kindly. Kono moved to the other side of Danny's bed and fussed with the sheet a little, careful of the many wires and tubes, before gently taking Danny's hand in hers. Chin smiled at her. "Look, why don't you get some shut eye. We can take over here for a while," he suggested.

Shaking his head, Steve stretched his body, grimacing when the sharp aches and stinging wounds made themselves known. "No, I need to be here when Danny wakes up."

Chin nodded, he understood that, and pulled up another chair to sit and wait. "Oh, I called Max with the update on Danny," he said softly. "He says he'll be here in a couple of hours. The results are starting to come in on the forensic tests of the evidence in the cave. He sounded a little rushed."

"Has he found anything that will directly implicate Du Pont with the other murders yet?" Steve enquired, interest piqued.

"Not yet, but it's still early," Chin answered. Kono looked at them.

"Surely there's enough circumstantial evidence to put her away for the rest of her miserable life, right? Not to mention that she tried to kill us and Danny..."

All eyes fell on Danny. Chin nodded, "You're right, cuz, but I dunno." He frowned hard. "She's evil. Pure evil, and she should pay for everything she's done."

But in the justice system, you were innocent until proven guilty, and proving that Alison Du Pont was guilty of murdering all forty two innocent people was going to take nothing short of a miracle, and they were all praying that Max and Charlie and their teams, could perform that needed miracle.

"Hello," Pauli greeted the rest of the Five-O team when she came to check on Danny, interrupting their quiet discussion. They both smiled at her and Kono moved out of the way to let the nurse through.

She noted the machine readouts curiously and leaned close to Danny, carefully lifting one eyelid. Danny immediately frowned and moved his head. Pauli smiled. "He's waking up," she said softly and pressed the call button for Doctor Harding.

Steve looked at his partner. "Hey, Danny?"

An answering soft moan made Steve smile. "Hey, buddy, open your eyes, huh, come on... lemme see those baby blues..."

Both Chin and Kono smiled at the tease and waited, practically holding their breaths, for Danny to wake up to tell Steve exactly where he could stick his _baby blues_!

Danny mumbled something, but it was muffled behind the mask and Steve leaned in close. "What was that, Danno?"

"Said stick... b'blues up... ass..."

A full grin split Steve's face. "Sure thing, Danno, right after you open said baby blues and dazzle me with them!"

"Bite... me," Danny said clearly. Kono chuckled and had to cover her mouth. Pauli watched the byplay amused but pleased at the way the Commander was coaxing Danny awake.

"Gladly, babe, where would you like me to bite you, huh?"

"Oh my... God," Danny groaned squinting his eyes open and glaring at Steve. "This is... hell... you're a... Ne-neanderthal. Even... dead you're... insane..."

The smile on Steve's face dropped faster than Kono's and Chin's. Pauli frowned confused, "What does he mean?"

"He still thinks we're dead," Chin answered quietly. Pauli looked up alarmed. "Long story, but short version is, Danny found our .bodies and assumed were we're dead."

"The tetrodotoxin," she guessed looking concerned at Danny. "Oh, this could be a problem."

Danny gripped Steve's hand and pulled him close, trying to focus on his face. He winced. "Jesus... McGarrett... look like... shit." He closed his eyes and sunk back into the pillow. "Death doesn't... become you, babe."

Frowning, Steve looked at the nurse and then at Chin and Kono, before saying, "That's because I'm not dead, Danny."

"Yeah," Danny sighed tiredly. "Sorry to... tell you but... you are, 'kay?"

Doctor Harding walked in and smiled to see Danny awake and calmly talking. His smile faded though when Pauli pulled him to one side and briefly explained the situation.

"Dead?"

She nodded, "Detective Williams found their 'bodies'."

**H-5-0**


	20. TG 20

**Hey, thanks again for all the reviews... B xx**

**H-5-0**

Danny squinted against the harsh glare of light trying to burn through his retinas and sighed. If this was the afterlife, then it sucked. He hurt... his chest hurt like a bitch, his head hurt, hell even his dick hurt! And on top of that, Steven was there poking fun at the newly dead guy like it was a fucking national sport!

And what was it about Navy SEALs that they couldn't just accept what was, huh? He was dead like him, okay? What was so hard to get about that?

As soon as he was able, Danny was going to kick the moronic goof right in his ethereal nuts, and then haunt the shit out of everyone that had made his life miserable on this rock, starting with Rachel's lowlife scumsucking lawyer.

"No, Danny, I'm not dead," Steve said clearly, and Danny forced his eyes open just to roll them. Steve leaned in closer making said eyes cross slightly. "I'm not dead. Neither is Chin." He gripped Danny's hand and squeezed, "Feel that, Danny? I'm real. I'm alive. She lied to you. We're all alive and we're all right here with you, alright?"

Harding watched the exchange closely, keeping an eye on Danny's heart monitor. He saw the change when Danny blinked confused at Steve, and moved in quickly.

"Daniel?"

"You're... you're..." Danny gasped, the rhythmic bleeping suddenly speeding up. Harding frowned and moved into Danny's eye line.

"Daniel, listen to me," he ordered. The heart monitor's alarm sounded. "Focus on my voice, okay? Listen to me... calm down. Relax your breathing and calm down..."

Danny's eyes darted frantically around the room, his breaths catching noisily in his throat.

"You're in the hospital, Danny, do you understand me?" the doctor asked trying to get his patient to look at him. Danny reached up and yanked off his mask, gasping harshly like he couldn't get enough air. Another alarm sounded and the team stood and watched anxiously as Pauli plunged the contents of a syringe into Danny's IV line.

"Danny," Steve said unable to just stand by and watch anymore. He grabbed his partner's hand and gently squeezed again, letting him know he was there. Danny's wide eyes snapped to his and he immediately recoiled on the bed.

"_Fuck_... You're, you're..." he wheezed sharply, shaking hard, trying to pull his hand from Steve's relentless grip. What the hell was happening? Steve was dead! _Dead!_

Wasn't he?

Danny didn't understand what was going on. He was in a hospital? Was he dead or not? And if he wasn't, why the fuck was he still seeing Steve's ghost? He caught movement at the end of his bed and blinked shocked when his blurry vision cleared and he saw Chin and Kono standing there, large as fucking life, looking worriedly back at him.

His head started to swim. It was too much. Chin was dead too, but... Kono... he'd saved her. Did she not make it? Was she dead now, as well? _Oh God_... White noise filled his head, sounding like he was under water, and his eyes rolled as the world wavered in and out. Voices called out to him, the words merging into sounds he couldn't quite latch onto. Danny tried to stay afloat, he tried, but he was being dragged under... down, down... until the frantic sounds around him were too far away and all he could hear was the thudding of his heart beating loudly in his ears.

Steve... Chin... and now Kono... his friends, his family, _his ohana_... Gracie... he'd lost them all...

The thudding slowed, stuttered, and Danny just let himself fall until the darkness claimed him and he heard no more.

"Danny? Danny!" Steve shouted frantically when he saw Danny's eye's roll back and close. The heart monitor bleeped erratically, and he could hear Kono mumble "not again, oh God, please, not again..." behind him.

Harding immediately replaced the mask and increased the oxygen flow, adjusting the IV until the heart beats settled again into a steady rhythm. With a relieved sigh he pressed his fingers to Danny's neck and prised open each eye lid.

"S'okay, s'okay," he murmured more to himself. Harding hated it when his patients scared the crap out of him! He looked up and nodded at Steve, who was still staring, a little shell shocked. "He's just sleeping again," he told Steve, casting a quick glance at Chin and Kono too. Checking the chest drain and incision, Harding then pulled the sheet up and draped it loosely over Danny's chest before picking up his chart and scribbling a few things on it. Pauli straightened the sheet gently and carefully checked the IV ports, offering each Five-O member a warm smile while she did it.

Blowing out a breath, Harding replaced the chart and scrubbed a hand through his short hair. "I know that was scary to see, but Daniel's vitals are still stable and the light sedative we just gave him will wear off in an hour or so," he said.

"What was that? A panic attack?" Chin asked leaning against the foot of the bed. Harding nodded, and Steve frowned hard, scrunching his face in self reproach. This was all his fault. Shit, if Danny was awake, he'd agree with him. Vociferously! Complete with bullet point ranting no doubt!

Steve should've known how Danny would've reacted to seeing him alive when he genuinely thought he was dead. God, it must've scared him to death when he finally realised that wasn't true! He sat down with a thump and buried his face in his hands. Kono moved to kneel in front of him.

"Hey, you okay, boss?"

"Jesus, what was I thinking?" Steve mumbled shaking his head. He looked up and rubbed his fingers across his stubble. "What if I caused a setback? Doc, tell me I didn't just make Danny worse, huh?"

"No, Commander, you didn't," Harding said meaning it. "You actually did the opposite, believe it or not."

The sheer look of incredulity was really close to what Danny liked to call Steve's Constipated Hamster Face.

"You're kidding me!" Steve stood up and gestured to Danny lying completely out for the count and still looking pale and too still on the bed. "That wasn't a setback? Because that did not look like a step forward, alright!?"

Nodding, Harding understood the team's anxiety well. But he looked at them reassuringly and told them, "I'm taking Daniel off the critical list. His condition has improved, and that is good news. Commander, you did good. You didn't cause a setback, I promise."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Steve absently rubbed at his chest and let the steady beep of Danny's heart monitor settle his nerves. "Yeah, okay, doc," he mumbled, still not quite convinced. He wouldn't be convinced until Danny was awake and complaining about the lousy hospital food. Instead he gave the doctor a tight smile and thanked him. Pauli gently patted his arm, promising coffee when she returned.

"Jesus, Danno," Steve breathed. "Can't you do anything like a normal human being? You have to wake up and scare the shit outta me, huh?" He knuckled an eye roughly, "What was that, huh? You and I are gonna have a long talk about how to wake up from near death and _not_ cause your partner a coronary in the process, Danno. In fact," Steve decided pointing at Danny, "Scratch that. I forbid you to get shot ever again!"

"Huh, I dare you to tell him that when he's awake," Kono muttered, brows raised. "Just make sure I'm there to see the fallout, 'kay, boss? I'll bring popcorn."

The corner of Steve's mouth turned up in a half smirk. Pauli returned with coffee that made Chin's nose twitch appreciatively, and they waited until Danny woke up again, chatting softly about the case and evidence they had on the Island Slasher.

~o~

Soft voices drifted into his subconscious, hushed and warm and familiar, and Danny just listened for a while. He recognised them as his friend's and slowly remembered the confusion and fear engulfing him earlier. Feeling safe in the warm embrace of wherever he was, Danny absently wondered if this was Purgatory, and he was actually dead and destined to be tortured forever by being confined to a hospital bed with – yep, a tube stuck up his fucking dick, and the taunting memories of his friends for company.

Laughter permeated his thoughts. A rich, sunny laugh that reminded him of Longboards by a beach and friendly teasing toasts to New Jersey, and suddenly Danny somehow knew that, no, this wasn't Purgatory at all. This was something else. He concentrated harder and it all came flooding back, like a tsunami crashing over him, tumbling him over and over in the wild surf of memories until...

He was in the hospital. He'd been shot... Steve wasn't dead. Chin wasn't dead. Kono... They were all here, alive, with him... he wasn't dead...

With a gasp, his eyes flew open and instantly found familiar hazel ones. "Steve..."

Hearing the soft gasp from the bed, Steve whipped his head around and watched as Danny opened his eyes. The softly breathed "Steve..." had the SEAL on his feet in less than a second.

"Danno? Hey... Welcome back," he smiled softly, watching cautiously for signs of another freakout. Chin and Kono stood too and carefully approached.

"So, not dead?" Danny asked blinking up at Steve slowly.

Holding Danny's hand tightly, Steve shook his head. "No, Danny, we're very much alive and right here with you, okay?" He stroked Danny's hair from his forehead again, biting his lips in a grin when Danny pulled a face.

"Off... hair, Steven," he swatted Steve's hand away, his IV tubing tangling with the oxygen mask over his face. "Shoot you... swear..."

"Okay, buddy, no touching the hair, I promise," Steve nodded, insanely happy that Danny had threatened him, and untangled the tubes, petting his hair again anyway because, well, his hand was right there.

Kono rolled her eyes and finished her coffee, sitting down smiling beside Chin.

Half an hour later, Danny was awake if a little (okay, a lot) loopy from the strong meds he was on, and reclining comfortably on his slightly raised bed with a nasal cannula instead of the oxygen mask. He constantly fidgeted with the irritating tubes up his nose while his team updated him with brief footnotes on the Slasher case.

Only half listening, Danny was still trying to process everything, but the one thing that still weighed heavily on his heart was that, even if he hadn't lost his ohana, (and how the fuck did that happen?) he _had_ lost Grace. And that hurt more than any physical pain he was feeling right then. There was a gaping hole in his soul so big that he couldn't see the edges, and it was filled with regret and shame, because his baby girl, already afraid of him, had been there to see her father gunned down in cold blood on the street, and that made him just want to disappear and cry.

But apparently fate was a cruel mistress, and she had dragged Danny back from the brink of death, and now he had to find a way to go on living without the one thing that made his life whole. He knew he'd never be able to get used to watching Grace grow up from a distance, always yearning to hold her, talk to her, hear her laugh, hear her tell him that she loves her Danno, but for everything he'd done to his precious little girl, for all the pain he'd caused her, Danny accepted his role now. Even changing jobs to a more mundane, _safer_ profession in order to fight for his right to be Grace's father, be in her life, would be in vain now. The damage was already done.

No, he wouldn't quit the Task Force now. It was the only thing he had left.

Rubbing his nose, he scowled when the stupid cannula fell away.

"Danny, stop," Steve chided when Danny dislodged the tube from around his ear.

Danny just glared at him as his friend reached up and replaced it. It wasn't a heated glare and was slightly unfocussed and tinged with resignation and sadness, and he could tell by the look on Steve's face that his friend knew how his heart was breaking, but with gentle moves he let Steve fuss for a minute, pathetically grateful for the few moments he'd been given to get himself together, before pushing Steve's hands away.

"I mean it, Danno... Stop messing with it."

"It's annoying, Steven," Danny grumped, falling into his roll a little easier now. "Tubes. Up my nose. Annoying."

"It's oxygen and you need it, alright?" Steve said with a shrug. "Now, leave it be."

"Tubes, where they shouldn't be, okay? Just like the one up my fucking di-" He stopped and snapped his jaw shut with an audible click, looking at Kono and flushing slightly. Kono helpfully burst out laughing.

Thank God for the ray of sunshine that was Kono.

"Oh, ha-fucking-ha-ha, Kalakaua. Laugh it up. Make fun of the injured man why don't you, huh!" He winced when he moved to reach for his cup of water. The show of pain immediately stopped Kono laughing. "Stop it, woman, okay?" Danny rolled his eyes taking the cup from Steve who'd passed it to him. He stuck his fingers in the water and flicked the droplets at her. She blinked and pursed her lips, smiling widely when Danny grinned at her.

"Hey, you are so on, Jersey Boy," Kono narrowed her eyes and smirked. "When you're outta here – you and me, water soakers at dawn. I'm gonna drench your ass!"

"Bring it, rookie," Danny teased back waggling his fingers. Chin and Steve watched amused, although Steve could see Danny's smile didn't reach his eyes. He knew his friend was thinking about his daughter, but he was trying to hide his emotions behind a facade again. For now, Steve let him, but later they were going to talk.

Max could hear the good natured teasing from the corridor of the ICU and he walked into Danny's room with a small wave and a heartfelt "Aloha!"

"Hey, Max," Steve nodded, eyes instantly falling on the file under his arm.

"Good afternoon. Detective Williams, it is extremely pleasing to see you awake and looking better," Max said.

"It's extremely pleasing to be awake and looking better, Max," Danny repeated smiling. "Whatcha got there, huh?"

"Oh, ah," he handed the file to Steve. "Forensic results from the cave in the Reserve off Pali Highway."

"Alison's cave?" Danny asked darkly. His heart monitor annoyingly bleeped a little faster and Steve quickly flashed him a concerned look. "Heyyy, SuperSEAL," he waved his hand at him, IV tubes flapping, "I'm fine. Stop with the face, 'kay?"

"Maybe we should do this later," Steve suggested and closed the file. His friend wasn't entirely compos mentis at the moment, thanks to the kickass drugs currently dripping into his veins, and more than once he'd caught Danny just staring at them; himself, Chin and Kono, like he still couldn't believe they were really there.

Danny, however, thought differently (like this was news!) and held his hand out, glaring at him. "Maybe we shouldn't. Give." He waggled his fingers impatiently and raised his brows. "File, now, Steven."

"Alright, but if-"

"Yeah, yeah," Danny muttered and quickly snatched the file and opened it. He frowned at the results looking up at Max, "Nothing?"

Taking the file back, Steve scowled at the papers. Danny was right. Du Pont had been scrupulously careful not leave any trace evidence behind.

"Well, not quite," Max said slowly. All four of them stilled and stared at him. The ME grinned and leaned over, pointing to a small result at the back of the file. Steve looked at it, a slow smile gracing his mouth.

"We got her," is all he said.

"What? What? Steve... do I have to explain to you what elaborate means, huh? Jesus, _elaborate_!" Danny waved his hands, damn IV tubes flailing again.

Max stepped in when Steve just grinned wider at his partner. "We have Alison Du Pont's DNA on the skeleton of Marie Calloway."

"Well, of course you do," Danny dropped his hands onto his knees. Geez, he was doped up to the fucking gills and he still knew that twins shared DNA! "The fucking psycho was her sister. Twin sister."

"Where you are correct, Detective Williams, in which she and her sister share a DNA profile, the sample we have is definitely Alison's."

"Even so, how does that tie her to the other murders, Max?" Kono asked.

Danny nodded. "What she said."

"The sample dates back to around nineteen-ninety-two, eleven years _after_ Marie Calloway died," Max explained further. "And it was found to be contaminated with another DNA that was tested to be dated from the exact same time, which we matched to Jenny Hu. My own assumption is that Alison Du Pont had injured herself and removed her gloves to touch the bones of her sister, leaving behind proof that she did indeed come into contact with Jenny Hu, and most likely did in fact murder her... and all the others," he finished and sat back.

"The proof we need to tip the scales," Chin nodded.

"Hallelujah," Danny scratched idly at the nasal tube and closed his eyes, scowling with a grin when he felt Steve pull his fingers away again.

**H-5-0**


	21. TG 21

**For those that watch Criminal Minds, you might recognise this bit. Love that show and just had to borrow this amazing ingenious plan! Bx **

**H-5-0**

Pacing her cell, Alison ground her teeth and muttered under her breath, reaching one wall and immediately turning to pace back.

"Stupid, fucking cop," she grunted. "Spoiled it all... spoiled _everything_, didn't he, Marie?"

She banged on the wall and turned again.

"No, no... I did it for us. I chose him well, Marie. Williams was... he was glorious to tear apart. You were there, you heard how he begged me to tell him why. _Why did you do it?_" she mimicked and laughed. She sat on the thin mattress and looked at the silvery scars on her wrist. "Oh Marie, I will get you your head, baby... I promise. These walls can't keep me caged up like an animal. I'm as free as a bird." She laughed. "Yeah, like a vulture, circling around for my next victim."

Looking at the grey door to her cell, she smiled slyly, an idea forming in her deranged mind.

"I'll get you, Detective Danny Williams, see if I don't," she hissed, lips twisting into an evil sneer. "You're time is up, my dear boy. There's a jar waiting for you..."

And with that, she looked down at her wrist and pressed her thumb nail into the soft flesh until the blood welled. She sliced deeper, just enough without severing her artery, until the bright red fluid flowed, and then lifted her wrist to her mouth and started sucking it down her throat.

It tasted warm and coppery, and she moaned, sucking harder. She stopped and sliced her nail in deeper, making herself bleed more...

...Until she was ready, and finally filled her mouth full of blood and simply let it flow over her chin and down the front of her prison issue jumpsuit. With a blood curdling scream, she collapsed on the floor and waited.

Within seconds her door was flung open and frantic shouting filled the small cell, including orders for an emergency transport to Queens Medical.

Alison inwardly smirked.

**H-5-0**

The conversation was hushed around Danny's bed whilst the man dozed, snoring softly. He been awake for a good hour, and had even managed to eat half a small bowl of lime jello, before exhaustion and the pull of his strong pain meds finally dragged him back to the healing land of nod. Despite his smiles and teasing Kono, Danny was still withdrawn and looked painfully ill. The months of stress were strikingly apparent, from how thin his wrists were to the way his skin stretched tight across his ribs.

Steve knew he'd lost some weight, but he had no idea it was this bad. He resolved to make it his mission to get his friend and partner back to his one hundred percent form again as soon as he was released. It was the least he could so since he'd left him to deal with everything alone.

Some friend he was, huh.

First on the list was Grace. Steve needed to talk to Rachel. He needed her to see what taking his daughter away was really doing to Danny, because he doubted she even had the faintest idea.

Danny was being transferred to another room out of the ICU soon, and Steve had decided to see his partner settled before he left. Chin and Kono had agreed, making themselves comfortable while they chatted with Max. Until then, Steve sat back in his chair and silently watched Danny sleep.

His cell buzzing suddenly made him jump, and he stood up, answering it with a quiet, "McGarrett."

Chin looked up when Steve sucked in a breath and barked out a brusque, "When?"

"What's going on?" whispered Kono. Chin shook his head.

"Alison Du Pont's being rushed to the ER here at Queens," Steve informed them tersely as he ended the call.

"Suicide?" Kono asked.

"Not sure. She's throwing up blood. They don't know what it is. They're en route, ETA three minutes," Steve frowned. "Chin, full detail when they get here. I want eyes on her at all times."

"You got it," Chin nodded and pulled out his phone before standing up and leaving to make the call in the corridor.

Seconds later Steve's cell went again. "McGarrett," he said and his eyes widened, his face paling alarmingly. "What?!" He listened for a moment more before pocketing his phone and instantly grabbing his gun. Kono shot to her feet and pulled hers out too.

"What is it, boss?"

"Alison's escaped," he said through gritted teeth, "And she's armed."

They looked at Danny, oblivious to what was happening, just as Chin came rushing back in with his gun already in his grip, "It's Du Pont, she's loose and she's already here."

"_...He's my masterpiece. He'll be a glorious prize for The Game."_ The words slammed into Steve's mind so hard he nearly reeled back. Those were Alison's last words to him in the interrogation. Words that threatened Danny's life. She was here to finish her sick game. He reached into his ankle holster and pulled out his back up weapon, handing over to Max. The ME took it with shaking fingers.

"You know how to use this?"

"Yes, but-"

"Max," Steve interrupted quickly. The ME looked at the gun with wide anxious eyes, curling his fingers around the grip until his knuckles went white. Steve gently loosened his hold. "Not so tight, Max. Safety's on here-" he indicated where, "it'll be okay. Just stay here and watch Danny. We'll be back soon, alright?"

Nodding jerkily, Max lowered the gun and moved to stand between the doorway and Danny. Steve patted his shoulder before leaving the room, closing the curtains fully behind him, his senses alert, his stride determined.

Kono quickly informed the ICU staff with what was happening. "Lock down the floor."

"That's not possible, miss," a critical care nurse said. "These patients need to have access to the OR in case of an emergency."

"There's a crazy woman on the loose in the hospital, armed and will shoot anyone who gets in her way. Do you understand that?" Kono stated harshly. The nurse blanched and nodded, quickly issuing orders to help secure the ward.

Satisfied the nurse had understood, Kono quickly followed Steve and Chin to find Alison Du Pont.

~o~

Feeling the rush of adrenalin from killing the two EMT's and the prison guard with her IV tubing and, her new favourite weapon, a very big empty syringe, Alison grinned maniacally as she stripped off her prison issue, not-very-flattering, jumpsuit and pulled on a set of OR scrubs, complete with cute hat and face mask. They weren't that different from the attire she wore in the veterinary surgery, and she pulled on a white doctor's coat, pocketed the sharp bloody scalpel she'd pilfered from the ambulance and the gun she'd taken from the prison guard she'd killed, and slipped out of the locker room.

Queens Medical Centre. The place was heaving with medical staff, all frantically running about. Alison thought it was amusing and stood back for a moment to savour, breathing deeply, watching the chaos around her, soaking up the fear that she could literally smell.

The instant she realised that Queens was the place she was being taken, it was like karma... like the planets had suddenly aligned in her favour... like The Game was _meant to be_.

Danny Williams was at Queens.

She'd heard that precious fact from the news reporters on Wyllie Street and clung to it, keeping it safe in her head until it was time.

And it was time now.

Alison stepped into the pandemonium, wiping the smugness off her face and painting on a wide eyed look of confusion. "What's going on?" she innocently asked a passerby.

"You not heard? There's a murderer in the hospital!"

"Oh my God..." she breathed shocked, hiding a smirk behind her hand.

"Yeah, better hide, doc!" And the panicked orderly ran off. She walked to the elevators and hit the button to the ICU, stepping calmly into the car when the doors opened.

"Soon, my dear Detective, I'll be with you soon..."

The doors closed just as the neighbouring elevator opened and Five-O hurried out.

Looking up, Steve noticed the security cameras. "Kono, see if you can spot her," he told her pointing up. She nodded and headed straight for security. He and Chin headed for the ambulance bay.

Pushing the security personnel out of the way, Kono's deft fingers and keen eyes quickly found their suspect. She swore and grabbed her cell.

"We just missed her," she told Steve. "She was in the next elevator just as we got out. Headed up to... Fuck... ICU!"

"Shit! Kono, call them, warn them," Steve shouted running hell-for-leather towards the stairs. His long legs took three at a time, Chin half a stride behind him. Once at the floor, they stopped and Steve carefully opened the stairwell door and peered through. The corridor was busy with nurses and doctors rushing around.

"Thought they were supposed to lock the floor down," Chin frowned when he and Steve slipped through the door. Steve ignored him and motioned for Chin to go one way while he went the other, and with guns poised, they both vigilantly searched the ICU.

Alison blended in with the nervous chaos around her, and used the frantic distraction to her advantage. Her slight build and new disguise seemed to fool everyone. Apparently, no one suspected a five foot seven, middle aged, ordinary looking woman to be a dangerous serial killer. She grinned smugly to herself and calmly made her way to the nurse's station where she'd find out which room Danny Williams was currently occupying.

Seconds later she was on the way to finally claim her prize.

~o~

The commotion outside his room woke Danny up and he moaned softly, forcing his eyes open. He frowned trying to focus when he saw Max, practically shaking in his sneakers, standing rigidly blocking his view of the doorway.

"Ma..." He cleared his throat, "Max."

Max snapped his head around and Danny blinked at the frightened look. "Detective Williams, you should stay quiet."

"Stay quiet? Why?" Danny asked confused, licking his dry lips and clearing his throat again. He saw a gun in the ME's hands and blinked. What the hell? "Max..." he grated out roughly and tried to sit up, hissing when blinding pain stabbed through his chest.

"Please, Detective, shhhh," Max pleaded. "Stay still, you could injure yourself further." He turned his attention to the doorway again and gripped the weapon tighter, immediately loosening his hold when the Commander's words drifted into his head again. He knew how to use it, but Max did not like guns. At all. But he was prepared to overlook that in order to protect his friend and co-worker right then.

Danny removed his nasal cannula and raised the head of the bed until he was nearly upright, grinding his teeth against the breath stealing stabs of agony shooting through his body. "Max. Where's Steve?" he whispered loudly, a fleeting moment of panic flaring as he began to wonder if he'd imagined his team around his bed earlier, and that they all really were still dead.

"_Trust me, Danno,"_ Steve had said though. _"Trust me, I'm alive, Chin's alive, we're right here, babe."_ And Danny hadn't questioned how or why... he was too afraid to, but...

He swallowed hard and repeated when Max didn't answer, "Hey! Where is everyone? You gonna tell me what the hell's going on, huh?!"

"Alison Du Pont escaped custody and is here, at the hospital." Max turned to Danny, "She's got a gun, Detective. The Commander, Detective Kelly and Officer Kalakaua are looking for her. Commander McGarrett gave me his weapon and left me here to protect you."

_Alison Du Pont escaped custody... Alison Du Pont escaped..._ Danny stared at Max, not wanting to believe what he'd just heard, but the chaos around them and the fact that Max was stood shakily holding Steve's gun at arm's length and pointed at the wheels of Danny's bed, told him that it was true. The panic he'd felt quickly abated at the mention of his team and he held out his hand.

"Max, give me the gun."

"No, the Commander said-"

"I don't care what Steve said, give me the gun, alright?" Danny hissed frantically waving his hand. Max lifted it and Danny immediately raised both hands and ducked. "Whoa, Max, for fuck's sake!"

"Oh, sorry. It's okay. The safety is still on," Max grimaced lowering it quickly to the floor again.

Jesus Christ! The safety was even still on?! "That's it," Danny snapped, gasping and grabbing at his chest, his back molars grating together. "Give me the gun now, Max. Right now!"

"Detective-"

"Who here is the trained police officer, huh? Now, give. Me. The. Damned. Gun. _Now!_"

Max jumped at the harsh demand and quickly handed Danny the weapon, wiping his sweating hands on his jeans.

"Thank you! Now, go take a peek what's happening out there, alright?" Danny ordered quietly as he flicked off the safety on the gun. He wished he could go and assess the situation himself, but the many tubes sticking in his body acted like a tether and he was stuck, literally tied to the bed. Max took a careful look through the curtains and shook his head.

"Lots of nurses rushing about, but I don't see the killer or the Commander," he reported in a whisper.

"Alright. Get back here and duck down out of sight, Max," Danny nodded already raising the gun and pointing it at the doorway. Max quickly hid down the side of the bed, watching anxiously from floor level.

Danny's head pounded and his chest burned and ached, but he schooled his focus and tried like hell to stop the hand holding the gun from trembling too badly. It frustrated him that he was stuck, waiting for the danger to come to him, when he'd much rather be hunting it down first, but he knew that even if he could disconnect himself and get out of bed, he'd probably collapse before he took that first step.

He still hated waiting for the unknown to happen, and the heart monitor behind him started bleeping faster.

"Detective Williams, are you alright?" Max whispered when he looked up and saw the blood pressure levels rise.

"No, I'm not, Max. Shut up," Danny murmured roughly, breathing laboured, "Stay quiet."

Max frowned with worry but hunkered down again and stayed as quiet as he could. He stopped breathing altogether when feet stopped at the curtain and turned towards them.

Alison smiled and approached Danny's room, pulling out her gun. She stopped just outside and breathed deeply. Her endgame was happening. Not like she'd planned, but this time The Game had been magnificent, all due to Detective Danny Williams, and now she was about to finish her masterpiece.

Her name, suddenly harshly shouted above the noise of the ICU, made her look back, and that was her mistake.

Steve hurried down the corridor, checking the medical personnel by sight, looking for Alison, but so far he couldn't find the killer. And then he saw her. From the back she looked just like any another Queens Medical hospital personnel, unassuming, and blended in dressed as a doctor, but it was her prison issue sneakers that gave her away. Steve's eyes caught sight of the dirty white footwear, standing right outside Danny's room, and he immediately shouted her name.

"Alison Du Pont!"

The corridor frantically cleared, and as soon as she turned with her stolen weapon raised, Steve fired off two shots, each one centre mass, and she instantly dropped.

The shots echoed around the floor and inside Danny's room, Max clamped his hands over his ears. Danny stared at the curtain, breathing shallow and fast, his gun still shaking in his hand. She was there. Right there outside his doorway! Jesus, McGarrett had nick-of-time timing!

That was too fucking close!

Outside the room, Steve rushed over and kicked Alison's weapon away from her hand and looked down at her. Chin hurried to his side, and they both watched as within seconds she choked to death on her own blood.

Neither man even flinched.

"Secure this area," Steve told Chin before heading into Danny's room. His hands flew in the air when he flung the curtains open and entered to see his own back up firearm pointed right at him. "Don't shoot!"

"Fuck, Steven," Danny gasped out with a whoosh. His hand slumped to the bed and Steve quickly retrieved the gun, flicked the safety back on and stuck it back in his ankle holster. He reached for Danny's shoulders and laid him back on the pillow, lowering the bed slightly.

"You okay, Danno? You're shaking," Steve murmured worriedly as he checked for any extra injuries and carefully replaced the nasal cannula under his nose and around his ears.

"Yeah, man, stop already with the mother-henning, okay?" Danny bitched back, voice a little tremulous and still shaken with what had just happened. His eyes widened and he grabbed onto Steve's wrist, "She's dead, right? Tell me she's dead, Steven..."

Steve framed Danny's face with his hands and looked at him, nodded, and told him, "Yes, Danny, she's dead. It's finished. She's dead." He waited until the words sunk in and then smiled when Danny sighed with relief. "Hey, where's Max?"

Danny pointed over the side of the bed, and Steve looked to see the ME crouched in a tight ball with his hands over his ears.

"Yo, Max!"

Max snapped his head up and blinked. "It's over?"

"Yeah, it's over," Steve said pressing the call button for Danny's nurse. "You doing okay there, huh?"

"Yes, thank you, Commander." Max stood up and straightened his shirt and glasses.

Steve eyed him curiously, "What was Danny doing with my gun?"

"Are you kidding, McGarrett?" Danny answered for the ME. His hands chopped through the air, "You gave a loaded weapon to a scientist, you moron! What is the matter with you? He was gripping the thing so tight I thought he was gonna become one with it! Of course I took the fucking gun off him. I am a cop, okay? I am trained in the use of firearms, okay?!"

Mouthing a sincere 'thank you' to Max, to which Max nodded and wisely stayed quiet, Steve then held his hands up in surrender and just shrugged at Danny. "Hey, I was just asking, that's all," he said, secretly pleased that he'd provoked a rant. _God, he'd so missed that..._ He reached into his pocket and pulled out Danny's shield. "Better have this back then, huh."

Danny took it and ran his fingers over the gold surface, a smile creeping onto his face. "Yeah, thanks, babe."

Smiling back, Steve closed Danny's fingers around the badge, relieved and pleased to be able to finally give it back to his partner, before nodding with a murmured "You're welcome, Danno."

Nurse Pauli rushed in then, concern written all over her face at the machine readouts. "Danny, are you alright? How bad is the pain – one to ten?"

Steve backed away and let Danny's nurse do her thing, nodding to both Chin and Kono when they suddenly hurried into the room.

"Shit, is Danny okay?" Kono asked seeing Pauli fuss over his dressing and perform a thorough check of his vitals.

"Yeah, he's a little shaken up, but he'll be okay," Steve murmured. He turned to Chin. "Du Pont?"

"Coroner already took the body. It was a clean take down," Chin said. "Case closed."

Those two words sounded wonderful, and Steve leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. Months of working to catch the Island Slasher, and they'd done it. The islands of Hawaii were safe from the serial killer that had taunted them for the last twenty-four years.

The Governor was going to be a happy and relieved man.

Now all that remained was to pick up the pieces of their lives and put them all back together, starting with Danny.

Steve still had to talk to Rachel about Grace, but that could wait until he knew that his partner was over this recent incident and settled in his own private room, one that was finally out of the ICU.

A while later, Danny was resting peacefully, thanks to a much needed and welcomed light sedative, in room two-twelve, three floors down, and the team had finally left for the evening knowing he was well on that road to recovery.

**H-5-0**


	22. TG 22

**Hey, nearly done... Hope you enjoy and thanks for all the ongoing support and reviews. B xx**

**H-5-0**

"_...yesterday afternoon at Queens Medical in Honolulu. Alison Du Pont, also known as the serial killer _The Island Slasher_, was shot dead after she escaped police custody. It is thought that Du Pont was looking for Detective Danny Williams, a member of the Five-O task force, to-"_

Rachel flicked the television off and stared at the blank screen. Her stomach rolled at the mention of her ex-husband's name as the images of Danny lying dying in a pool of his own blood in the middle of Wyllie Street tormented her mind. Grace was still off school, and was currently in her room. She still wasn't talking to her mom, and in a way, Rachel couldn't blame her little girl for that.

Shaking her head, Rachel picked up her Royal Albert tea cup and saucer and walked into the kitchen. She looked down at the delicate bone china in her hands and suddenly bit back tears. The crash echoing around the room wasn't nearly as satisfying as she'd imagined it would be, and she left the broken pieces in the bottom of the sink and turned her back on them. Her heart felt just as fractured now that she'd opened her eyes and seen what she'd done to Danny.

God, was she really that selfish and cold?

Even Stan had been a little distant since she'd started the proceedings to gain full custody of Grace. But Rachel was still convinced she was doing what was best for her daughter. Her father's job simply made it too dangerous for him to be in her life.

The baby monitor alerted her that Charlie was awake, and she wiped her eyes and sighed before straightening her posture and heading for her son's room. At least he still wanted her.

She'd just put her baby back down to sleep after a good feed when the doorbell chimed. She frowned shaking her head thinking Stan must've forgotten his door key and mumbled to herself about absent minded husbands as she descended the stairs.

Her eyes opened wide in surprise when she saw Steve on her doorstep.

"Commander McGarrett... How did you get past the gate?"

"You code is still Grace's birthday," Steve told her quietly. "Look, can we talk?"

"Oh, God, it's Daniel, isn't it?" she gasped, her hand flying to her mouth, thinking the absolute worst.

Steve quickly stepped forward and reassured her, "He's doing better, he's off the critical list and recovering well, Rachel... He's not-"

"He's okay?" Tears welled in her eyes.

Steve wanted to scream at her that no, Danny wasn't okay, that he needed Grace because although physically his body was healing, his soul was still broken into a million miserable pieces. And the tears in Rachel's eyes just wanted to make Steve cringe.

Just who was she crying for?

"Can we talk inside?" Steve nodded, needing to get right to the point sooner rather than later. He felt uncomfortable and just wanted to get this over and leave. "We need to discuss Danny and Grace, and I'd rather not do it on your doorstep."

Rachel hesitated, but then let Steve enter her house. She closed the door and walked into the kitchen without looking back.

"Can I offer you some tea?"

"No thank you," Steve answered and waited until she turned to face him. "You need to drop the custody battle. What you're doing, Rachel... you're killing Danny."

"Isn't that a little harsh, Commander?" Rachel frowned. Steve stepped closer.

"Is it? That little girl is everything to her father."

Leaning against the kitchen counter, Rachel folded her arms and schooled her face. "I don't know what Daniel has told you, Commander, but like I said before, this is a private matter concerning myself and my ex-husband, and really none of your business," she said, repeating the words from their earlier telephone conversation.

Steve glared at her, but she lifted her chin and stood her ground.

"That's where you're wrong," he stated, pointing a finger at her. "Danny is my partner, and a good friend. I care about him and that little girl, and can you honestly say that stopping them seeing each other is really the right thing to do, huh?" He rubbed his fingers across his mouth and made himself calm down a little. "You took out a restraining order against him, Rachel. Why?" Because even now, Steve couldn't understand what Danny had done to her that had warranted such a drastic, devastating action.

"I had to think of Grace," she answered, "she's my first priority and I had to do what I thought was right. She saw a video of what her father did to Stan, Commander... she _saw_ her father shoot Stan!"

Rachel closed her eyes and remembered the way Grace had sobbed after watching it, her small shoulders shaking so hard that Rachel had to hold onto her tightly. But now she realised that Grace was crying for her Danno too, because he'd been forced to do it.

Wincing, Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. He didn't know Grace had seen Danny shoot Stan. He was there, and it scared him! _Oh Grace..._

"So you see, Commander," Rachel continued quietly, "It wasn't a decision I took lightly. Daniel is a wonderful father, but his job... his job is just too dangerous for him to be a part of Grace's life. She was kidnapped because of Daniel. She could've ...died. Stan could've died..."

Her voice tapered off with a hitch. Steve sighed heavily shaking his head.

"When we first met, Danny told me that his job was to keep Gracie's home safe, that all he wanted to do was be a good father and to keep his daughter safe," he said softly, "And he is. Danny _is_ a good father, and he's damned good at his job, too, but you take Grace out of the picture, all you have left is an empty shell of a man with a gaping hole in his heart, and no reason left to go home at night, you understand what I'm saying?"

It scared her, but she understood clearly. She wanted to tell the Commander that he was exaggerating, but she remembered the broken look on Danny's face in the Family Court, the devastating pain behind his eyes when the judge ruled in her favour... but he hadn't contested it, hadn't argued... just simply nodded and quietly walked away when the hearing was over.

"He needs her, Rachel," Steve continued quietly, "Danny needs his daughter."

"I understand, Commander, I do, and I never wanted to hurt Daniel," she sighed unfolding her arms. "But you have to understand what I did was to keep Grace safe. She's just a little girl, and... and I just want to keep my daughter safe." She bit her lip. "But... I will reconsider my decision and talk to Grace's therapist."

"Thank you," Steve nodded sincerely. He waited a moment before turning away. "Oh, Danny will be in the hospital for a few days yet," he looked back at her and added, "I think it would really help if Grace could visit him."

"I will let you know," Rachel told him and walked him to the front door. The patter of young feet running down the stairs made Steve stop and look, a huge smile breaking out on his face when Grace suddenly launched herself at him with a squeal of "Uncle Steve!"

"Hey, Gracie," he said getting down on one knee and hugging her tight. God, he'd missed her.

"What're you doing here? Is Danno alright? Can I see him? Can I come to the hospital with you and see him, Uncle Steve?" she asked in a round of quick fire questions, finishing with another hug and, "I've missed you, Uncle Steve."

"Missed you too, kiddo." He looked up to see Rachel watching, a frustrated frown on her face. It was obvious that Grace had been giving her mom trouble about not being allowed to see her father, and a part of Steve wanted to hug her a tiny bit harder for not giving up on him. He pulled back and smiled at Grace, "Danno's gonna be just fine, Grace, but he's still very tired and kinda falls asleep all the time, and I'm sure he'd be pretty upset if you visited and he missed you because he was getting some more beauty sleep."

"He doesn't have beauty sleeps," Grace giggled, and then looked serious, "I promise to be quiet, Uncle Steve. I promise not to wake him up. I just want to see him... please. I miss him so much..."

Steve pulled her to his shoulder again, "Yeah, I know, kid." He rubbed her back before reluctantly letting her go and standing back up. Grace's huge brown eyes followed his movement. "I have to go, sweetheart," he said softly, his heart lurching when tears slipped down her cheeks. He gently thumbed them away. "You be good for your mom, okay?"

Grace sighed and nodded, looking lonely and small when Steve left her to go to the door. "Uncle Steve?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell Danno his Gracie loves him?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"I will, kiddo, I promise," Steve smiled, giving Rachel a loaded look before he left. The drive back to Queens Medical was silent as Grace's words stayed with him.

His cell buzzed just as he approached the hospital and Steve answered with his usual curt, "McGarrett."

"Steve? You need to stop by the ME lab," Chin said, his voice filling the cab. "You need to see something."

"Okay, be there in ten," Steve ended the call, did a U-turn and headed towards the Medical Examiner building.

Max was waiting with Chin when Steve rushed in, Alison Du Pont's body on the examiner's table in front of them.

"What is it?"

Pulling back the sheet, Max revealed the bare torso of the body and stepped back. Steve stared in shock. Carved into the skin across her stomach were the words _this one is for you, Danny, you win The Game._

"Shit."

"S'what I said," Chin murmured. Clearly, Alison Du Pont was a very sick woman indeed.

Steve stepped closer and covered the body back up. "I don't want Danny to know about this yet," he decided. "Not until he's of a better state of mind, alright?"

He knew his decision to keep this bit of information from his partner would eventually come back and bite him in the ass when Danny found out, but for now he needed his partner to concentrate on recovering, not wrestling with the added complications of being told, by the very serial killer that had tried to murder him in front of his daughter, that he'd won the fucking _Game_!

"I agree, Commander." Max nodded.

"Hey, do we know why she was being transferred to the ER?" Steve queried before her left again. Max moved to his computer monitor and pulled up a page of results.

"We do," he nodded. "Her stomach and oesophagus contained traces of her own blood, and there are wounds and suction bruises on her wrist. It appears that she sliced open her wrist with her fingernails and ingested her own blood in order to give the false appearance of a serious medical emergency."

_Jesus..._ Steve's brows hit his hairline. Sick bitch!

"The Governor wants to see you, Steve," Chin said quietly after a moment. Steve frowned, he hadn't received a call about that. It must've shown on his face when Chin added, "I told him you were talking with Danny's wife about Grace and he agreed not to disturb you."

"Oh, that was... good of him," Steve blinked. Checking his watch, he frowned, "I'd better go see what he wants. Mahalo, Max."

He and Chin then left.

**H-5-0**

The Governor had just finished a press conference when Steve walked into his office, and immediately stood up, offering his hand. "Commander, thank you for a job well done."

"Um, thank you, sir," Steve mumbled shaking his hand.

"How is Detective Williams doing?"

"He's better," Steve told him. "He still has a long recovery ahead of him, but he's... he's gonna get there."

"I'm relieved to hear it, Commander." The Governor pulled out a file and handed it to Steve.

"What's this, sir?" Steve frowned opening the manila folder. Inside were _letter_s of commendation for each of his team, thanking them all, on behalf of the people of Hawaii, for their diligence and unrelenting dedicated actions in the apprehension of Alison Du Pont, AKA the Island Slasher.

"The State of Hawaii owes you and your team a great debt, Commander," the Governor said sincerely.

"Thank you, sir, but we were only doing our jobs," Steve nodded and closed the file, holding it carefully in his hands. The letters meant a lot to him, and he couldn't wait to share them with his team.

"I know you were, but you went above and beyond the call of duty for his one, and I truly appreciate it. The residents of Oahu are lucky to have you watching out for them." He held out his hand again, and Steve shook it with a smile. "Please tell Detective Williams that I wish him a speedy recovery and hope he feels better."

"I will, sir," Steve nodded and held up the file, "Thank you again."

Governor Denning smiled as he watched Steve leave his office. The SEAL Commander looked like hell, but he hoped now the Island Slasher case was over, the petty criminals of Oahu would give his Task Force a much needed break from crime fighting for a short while.

He could only hope.

**H-5-0**


	23. TG 23

**H-5-0**

Laughter could be heard halfway down the corridor on Danny's floor, and Steve slowed his pace to the room. The door was ajar, and he could see Kono and Chin laughing at something on Kono's smart phone.

Danny was watching them quietly from his bed. He was wearing a T-shirt that hid his bandages and looked a lot better since the nurses had cleaned him up a little, and was smiling whenever Chin or Kono looked up, but Steve could tell it was forced.

"Hey," he announced and walked in, his steps light. He smiled at Danny. "How you doing, Danno?"

"Oh, ah, y'know," Danny nodded and tried to push himself up straighter, failing miserably when his chest exploded in pain. "Feel like a herd of elephant's riverdanced on my chest and one of your grenades went off in my head," he snarked.

"Huh," Steve frowned, his face tightening in concern. Danny rolled his eyes.

"Stop with the Aneurism Face, babe," he grumbled. "I'm fine, okay? I ache, I hurt, I wanna get out of bed but I can't because I'm fucking tied to it with _tubes_, but I'm not in severe pain. Now, stop worrying, alright?"

"You're sure?"

Danny just glared at him.

"Alright." Steve sat down on the bed, ignoring Danny's indignant wave of his hands and bitch about personal space, and opened the manila file he was holding.

"Oh my God, seriously?" Kono grinned as she read the letter of commendation. Chin smiled and looked up.

"I hope this means a substantial pay rise, dude," he winked.

Danny just looked at his letter before letting lay on his knee. He couldn't help thinking about Grace Collins, Laura Mamala, and Lilia Hin... chosen and murdered because of him. He didn't deserve the letter, it was his fault those innocent young women lost their lives so brutally.

"Danny?" Steve bit his lip and murmured softly. Danny met his eyes and offered a small smile.

"S'great, yeah, thanks," he nodded, but Steve could see the words held no real meaning. Danny sighed and rubbed his face tiredly. "I'm sorry, I'm just not good company today. Thank the Governor for me, Steve, okay?"

Chin saw the quiet exchange and frowned slightly. He caught Steve's meaningful look and stood up. "C'mon, Kono, I need coffee - _Good_ coffee, and you've got the car keys."

"Geez, you're such a junkie, cuz," she chuckled, but stood up anyway, leaned over the bed and gave Danny a hug. "See you later, Danny, take care of yourself."

"Yeah, thanks, Kono," Danny nodded and waved as they left. He looked at Steve still sat on his bed. "Did you want something, Steven?"

"Yeah, to talk," Steve nodded seriously. Danny closed his eyes and leaned back.

"I'm tired, man." And he was. Tired of life.

Steve, however, wasn't listening as usual. "Danny, why didn't you tell me how bad it got, huh?"

"Steve," Danny pulled an irritated face, but Steve waved him quiet.

"No, listen to me, Danny," he ploughed on, "I'm sorry, okay... I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when I should've been. I'm a Navy SEAL, I live by _leave no man behind_, but I did. I left you behind."

Danny frowned. What the hell was Steve talking about? It was his choice to block his friends out, to deal with his problems alone! "Don't be so ridiculous, you goof," he shook his head in disbelief. "It's not like I gave you a choice, okay?"

As soon as he'd said the words, Danny cursed himself. He'd walked right into that one. He blamed the meds.

"No, you didn't, Danny," Steve agreed sharply. "You let it nearly kill you-"

"I don't think-"

"Aht!" Steve stuck a finger in the air and Danny snapped his mouth shut with a scowl. "I'm talking here, alright?" He used the same finger to emphasise his next point, "The nightmares. The drinking. The depression. The running until you were raw and bleeding, Danny... The weight loss, nearly passing out in the office..."

"What do you want me to say, huh?" Danny shouted throwing his hands in the air. "I've had a really shitty few months, and worked a fucking gruesome case where I was apparently picked to be the killer's pet fucking detective, Steven. Is it any wonder I'm a little depressed and have fucking nightmares? Huh?"

Dragging a hand through his hair, Steve blew out a breath and winced when Danny's pale face flushed in anger. Maybe talking about this with Danny while he was still in the hospital was a bad idea. "I know that, Danno-"

"Don't call me that," Danny snapped.

"I'm sorry," Steve apologised softly. "But I wasn't talking about that." He watched as Danny rubbed a hand across his forehead and shift awkwardly in the bed. "You okay?"

"Yeah, fucking peachy," Danny mumbled closing his eyes. He knew what Steve was talking about, and he'd hated lying to his friends, especially Steve...

Sighing internally, Danny opened his eyes again and looked at his friend for a long moment. What could he say? _Wasn't any of your business, Steven_, or _There wasn't anything to tell_, but he knew he'd just be lying, again.

He really didn't want to talk about it though.

"Look, there was nothing you could've done to help, okay, and we all had enough going on with the Slasher case," he muttered shrugging with one shoulder. He idly played with the tape around his IV port in his wrist, ignoring Steve's troubled look. "Besides, it was my mess. I shouldn't have let Peterson manipulate me. I shouldn't have shot Grace's stepdad." He looked up, "Rachel's right. I'm too dangerous to be around my daughter, okay, and the last thing I wanna do is hurt my little girl again."

"No, Danny, no... Rachel is not right," Steve insisted. "That little girl needs you, and you're a good father. She loves you, Danny."

"Whatever, doesn't change anything, it's too late," Danny said flatly. "She's better off without me... you all are."

"What?" Did Steve hear right? A cold vice clamped around his heart at Danny's words. "What does that mean?"

When he looked up, Danny's eyes looked bleak and lost, tears pooling in the corners. "She killed you," he whispered brokenly, like he was going to shatter with the images of his friend's mutilated, bloodied bodies permanently etched into his memories. "You were dead... I was too late to save you..."

Steve leaned forward and carefully pulled Danny to his chest before the first sob escaped his throat. The stress of what he'd been through, the pain, and the effects of the medication had dragged all Danny's emotions right to the surface, and Steve, expecting this to happen at some point, just hung on and let his friend cry quietly against him.

"We're not dead, Danno," he promised softly into the blonde hair. "Me, Chin and Kono are alive and well... I'm here, right here, and I'm not going anywhere..." Rubbing a comforting hand over Danny's back, he closed his eyes as tears of his own began to clump his eyelashes.

The events of the last few days caught up to Steve, and he blew out a shuddering breath. They'd nearly lost Danny, _had_ lost him at least four times. Bitterness filled his mouth and Steve swallowed hard. He could still taste his friend's blood, an echo of the memory lingering on his lips.

"I could've helped, Danny," he told him softly. "I wish you'd told me what was going on with Grace and Rachel... You didn't have to deal with all that on your own. I'm your partner. I'm your friend, Danny, I'm here for you..."

Danny quietened down and pulled back with a sharp gasp and embarrassed frown. He yanked up the corner of the sheet and wiped his eyes. "Sorry," he muttered sheepishly pushing his fingers through his hair.

"No problem," Steve nodded. "Meds, right?"

Snorting softly, Danny glanced up at the IV fluid and scrunched his face up. "Yeah, meds." He turned back to Steve and met his eyes, "Thank you."

"Any time, you know that. And I meant what I said, Danno, I'm your partner and your friend. I'm here for you. Please don't ever think you have to go through anything like this alone again. Friends are there for each other, right?" Steve sighed shakily, "I nearly lost you Danno, I don't... I don't ever want to do that again, okay?"

"Is that an order, huh?" Danny asked scratching his eyebrow with a thumb nail.

Hesitating for all of three whole seconds, Steve nodded, "Yes."

"Oh, well if that's the case, Commander SuperSEAL," Danny narrowed his eyes and gestured to Steve's body, "No more dying and getting sliced up like a ham hock at Christmas, okay?"

"Deal," Steve immediately said with a smile.

Danny held up a hand in a classic hold on a minute action. "Get that shirt off," he suddenly ordered.

"What?" Steve blinked, a confused look on his face. "I'm not taking my shirt off, Danny!"

"You! You were cut up and _dead_!" Danny shouted. "How were you dead?" And why the hell hadn't he asked this before!? Oh, that's right, he'd been too fucking afraid to! Danny blamed the meds on that too and looked up at the IV fluids again, scowling hard at them. "Fucking drugs!"

"Oh, ah," Steve wavered for a moment chewing on his lip, and then rushed out, "Tetrodotoxin."

"The _zombie_ poison?" Danny blinked, his eyes widening as it suddenly hit him with a force that nearly seized his chest. "You... you weren't really dead and I... and I left you behind? Oh God..."

Steve quickly grabbed Danny's shoulders when the man started to gasp harshly and clutch at his chest. "Hey, hey, Danny, take it easy, okay? We're alright, babe... I promise..."

Shit. Steve had also expected this too, knowing that as soon as Danny – fiercely protective of his friends and family – had realised that he'd left them in the cave alive, it would hit him hard.

"But... I left you there, Steve," Danny yelled, eyes wide and shocked, "You and Chin! You weren't dead and I left you... What if-"

With his hand turning Danny's face towards his own, Steve met the troubled blue eyes with a determined look. "Stop it, Danny. Stop this right now, alright?" he ordered sternly. Danny blinked and sucked in a breath, but he instantly quietened. "Good... Okay, Danny, I want you to listen to me, okay? TTX poisoning severely suppresses the body's-"

"I know what tetrodotoxin does, Steven," Danny interrupted loudly, his shaking hand wrapped tightly around Steve's wrist.

"Okay, then you'll know that there was no way you could've known, alright?" Steve insisted. He looked hard at his partner, "Danny, you didn't know, but we're okay. I promise. Me and Chin... we're fine. Du Pont dosed us with just enough to-" he winced, "trick you, but not enough to kill us. Danny, you got Kono out and to the hospital... She needed you and you got her help."

"But-"

"Du Pont deceived you, Danny. It was all a part of her sick game. There was no way you could've known. You just didn't _know_, okay? Okay? Please, Danny," Steve waited until Danny finally accepted what he was saying before sitting back.

The words didn't do much to quell the overwhelming guilt Danny felt crushing him, and he knew that feeling would stay with him for a long time, but for now he nodded and blew out a shaky breath as Steve's face relaxed with relief.

"Okay. So," Danny licked his lips and frowned slightly, "How did she..." He finished with a sweep of his hand. Steve raised his brows, fluent in 'Danny-speak', and scratched his fingers idly under his chin. A classic McGarrett distraction tactic. "Steven?"

"Ah, we were..." He shrugged, mumbling, "We were kinda gassed with it."

"Kinda gassed? What the hell?!" Danny yelled clutching at his chest again when it complained harshly at the workout he was currently giving his lungs. His ribs and surgical site stung painfully and he leaned back and carefully breathed through the pain until it passed.

"Geez, Danny, calm down!" Steve admonished worryingly. Danny just glared at him.

"Why are you still sat there with your shirt on, huh? Do me a favour, okay. Take it off." He sighed, muttering, "I can't believe you were gassed with a _zombie_ poison and sliced up like my mother's turkey roast. I bet you signed yourself out AMA as well, am I right, huh?"

Rolling his eyes, Steve shrugged out of his shirt and bared his dressings and healing scars for Danny's scrutiny.

"Oh my God, look at you," he breathed miserably feeling that guilt bubbling up again, "Look what she did, the fucking bitch! How many?"

"How many what?" Steve asked looking down at himself.

"How many times did she...?"

"Oh, sixteen." The answer was quietly spoken.

Reaching out, Danny traced his fingers lightly over a short, scabbed scar on Steve's forearm, fighting back tears again. "Are you okay? What about Chin and Kono?" he suddenly needed to know curling his hand back.

"Truth is, we're all exhausted, and yes, we did sign out AMA, so we're all overdue a little time off to recover properly, but we are fine. A little cut up, but nothing that won't heal, Danny, I promise." Steve pulled his shirt back on. "It's you that we have to concentrate on getting well, alright?"

"I'm fine, Steve," Danny shrugged looking away.

"Are you?"

"Truthfully?"

Steve nodded.

"No," Danny admitted quietly. "I don't think I'll ever be alright. I've lost my baby girl. She's afraid of me, Steve... I made my Gracie scared of me."

"No, you didn't, Danny," Steve frowned. "I've spoken to Grace-"

Danny's eyes lit up. "You talked to her? You talked to Gracie?"

"Yeah, and she told me to tell you that your Gracie loves her Danno, and misses you so much, and wants to see you," Steve told him and smiled when Danny's face opened up into the first real smile in months. "Those are not the words of a child whose afraid of her father, are they?"

Fresh tears made Danny's eyes shine bluer, but the smile fell. "No, they're not. But Rachel..." he started, but couldn't finish.

"...is reconsidering her decision to take Grace away from you, Danny," Steve finished for him. Danny's eyes snapped up, huge and shocked.

"What? She's what now? How-"

"We had a little chat," Steve said, holding up his hand to stop Danny from saying anything. "I wasn't rude or threatening, I promise. We just talked because I thought she needed to know that what she doing was, y'know, killing you."

A smile slowly lifted Danny's mouth and Steve narrowed his eyes.

"What?"

"You talked to my ex-wife to get her to reconsider the custody decision? You're a brave, brave man, Steve McGarrett," Danny said patting Steve's hand. Steve shook him off and rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, Williams. I've faced down evil drug lords and maniac dictators. I think I can handle an ex-wife... even yours!"

"Bet it wasn't pretty, huh," Danny nodded remembering the spectacular fights he'd had with Rachel in the past.

"Rachel's a .formidable woman." And okay, so the adjective he'd just used could be taken a couple of ways, but Steve left it up to Danny to interpret what he meant.

Barking out a surprised laugh, Danny shook his head. "She is that, and then some. Fuck, I was married to her... difficult came with the territory."

Steve chuckled along with him. He could see a new light in his partner's eyes, and prayed that Rachel wouldn't let him down, and that Danny would see his daughter very soon.

And then the real healing could begin.

**H-5-0**


	24. TG 24 final chapter

**Thank you all so much for all the great reviews you gave me for this story! It was a lot of fun to write and even more to hear how much you guys enjoyed it too! Mahalo everyone! **hugs** Bryce xx**

**H-5-0**

_Eleven weeks later..._

Kono yelped in surprise as cold water hit the back of her T-shirt, soaking it through. Her arms flew in the air, but she didn't let go of the Super-soaker, and quickly turned on her heal and aimed.

"Run, Jersey-Boy," she yelled laughing as Danny sprinted away and ducked behind the nearest sand dune.

The team were all spending the day on the North Shore, with a picnic and loaded Super-soakers, trying to get one up on each other in a water fight.

"Danno!"

"Hold your position, Gracie," Danny told his daughter with a grin. He nudged her and pointed to the right where Steve was and Grace instantly aimed and fired.

Steve cried out, clutching his chest in a dramatic over the top and elaborate _you shot me! _action, before falling like a wounded soldier to the sand, arms and legs spread wide. Grace giggled and high-fived her dad.

He was happy. Danny was _insanely_ happy... in fact he was the happiest father in the history of happy fathers!

But it wasn't always so, and Danny still shuddered when he thought about those dreadful forty eight hours, eleven weeks ago. The longest two days in his life... even longer than the lonely, depressive year he'd just lived through...

_It had been two days since Steve had told Danny that he'd talked with Rachel, and that he'd persuaded her (and Danny _still_ couldn't believe how the man had done that!) to rethink her decision to take Grace away from him._

_Two whole days... forty eight hours... It wasn't a long time in the grand scheme of things, but fuck, it felt like an eternity. Danny vacillated between hope and despair the whole time, trying not to become too optimistic, but at the same time, trying his damndest not to sink into that spiral of deep and dark depression again. But the waiting nearly killed him. He was too anxious to sleep, too tired to appreciate the company of his friends when they came by to visit him. In short, he was a mess._

_Steve, of course, stood by Danny and was that steady presence that he needed, and Danny was grateful for that._

_It was like he was so, _so_ close to happiness again, but it was still too far away and he couldn't quite reach it._

_On the morning of the third day, when Steve came by, Danny had already prepared himself for another lonely, anxious day of what if, but when his friend walked into his hospital room with Grace's hand in his and a huge smile of his face, Danny was stunned into silence. He blinked up at Steve, not quite believing what he was seeing, but when Steve grinned wider and nodded, Danny knew... and tears pooled._

Gracie...

_Quickly holding out his arms, his heart hammering in his chest, Danny's whole face lit up in a huge watery smile. "Monkey," he lovingly breathed and Grace rushed forward and eagerly moved into his hug, being really careful because her Uncle Steve had told her about her dad's really sore ribs._

"_Daddy," she cried into his neck, her small arms wrapped tight around him. Danny held on to his daughter for a long, long time, stroking her hair and inhaling the familiar sweet coconut scent. He was home. He was finally home. _

"_Oh baby, I missed you," he murmured pressing kisses into her soft hair. His chest ached under her weight, but he didn't feel the pain at all... and he loved and cherished the simple feel of his little girl in his arms again. "God, I missed you so much..."_

"_Missed you too, Danno," Grace whispered pulling away only to plant a huge kiss right on his stubbled cheek. He lifted a hand and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, smiling up at Steve who'd been silently watching the scene with suspiciously moist eyes._

_"Wow, you got so big, Monkey," Danny murmured softly, Grace ducked her head and grinned._

"_Are you gonna be okay, daddy?"_

"_Yeah, baby, I'm going to be okay," Danny turned his smile to his daughter. "In fact, I'm feeling lots better now I've got you here."_

_Grace grinned and sat back, wiped her eyes and made herself comfortable against her dad's side. Danny wrapped his arm around, loving the feeling of her warmth again. _

_Steve perched himself on the end of his bed with them and gently rubbed a hand over Danny's leg on top of his blanket. The action got him another huge smile. God, Danny loved that man, that SuperSEAL, that amazing, annoying but goofy and sweet guy!_

_After a few moments, Danny cuddled closer to Grace and murmured, "Hey, baby, I'm so sorry for what I did to Step-Stan, okay? I'm so sorry you had to see that. I'm sorry it scared you, sweetheart. I'm sorry..."_

_Grace looked up frowning and shaking her head. "Why are you sorry, daddy?" she asked a little confused. "You save me from the bad man."_

"_Yeah, but I shot Step-Stan, baby, and-"_

"_You shot him safely, Danno," she interrupted with a look that was all Danny. Steve hid his smirk when Danny's eyes widened at her words. He threw Steve a look threatening to do bodily harm if he even opened his mouth before turning back to Grace._

"_Grace, honey, there's no such thing as-" he grimaced, "shooting people _safely_. What I did was wrong, and I am very, very sorry for that."_

_Shrugging and rolling her eyes at Danny, Grace leaned in and gave him another kiss on his cheek. "Step-Stan doesn't blame you for it, you know, daddy. In fact he was the one who told me that you didn't really hurt him. It was that bad man that made you do it." A haunted look clouded her eyes for a moment and Danny pulled her against his chest. "He was a horrible man. He made you do that, daddy, but you saved me."_

"_I'll always make sure you're safe, baby," Danny promised softly into her hair._

"_I know you will," Grace nodded, "you're the best cop and daddy in the world!"_

"_And you're the best daughter in the world, sweetheart," Danny grinned, looking up when he heard Steve chuckle. He mouthed a silent thank you to his friend, and they spent a good while all talking together and catching up with what Grace had been doing at school and making plans for the future, when Danny finally got out of the hospital._

"_Hey, Uncle Steve?" Grace sat up and suddenly asked._

"_Yeah, Gracie?"_

"_Can you pass me my back pack, please?"_

_Steve smiled at her and handed her the pack, watching curiously as she rummaged around in it. When she pulled out a wrapped gift, his eyebrows raised and he smiled. She reached over and placed it in Danny's hands._

"_What's this, Monkey?" Danny asked looking at the brightly wrapped gift. Grace snuggled back by her dad's side as Steve put the pack on the floor again._

"_It's your birthday present, Danno. The one I didn't get to give you yet," she smiled up at him. "Are you gonna open it?"_

_Clearly stunned with emotion, Danny blinked as tears filled his eyes. His precious and beautiful, wonderful baby girl had got him a birthday gift after all. Grace wrapped her arms around him when the tears fell and cuddled him until they stopped._

_It was a moment Steve would remember for a long time, and feeling like he was intruding on something special, he quietly stood up and started to leave when Danny reached out and stopped him._

"_Where are you going, Uncle Steve," Grace frowned at him. Danny just patted the bed with a smile, and Steve smiled back when Danny mouthed the word Ohana at him._

The belated birthday gift now sat proudly on his desk at work, right next to his shell and glitter photograph frame of his baby girl. The clay model of a dolphin, with beads for eyes, a bright sunny smile, and painted light blue with (more!) glitter on its tail, always made Danny grin and was a reminder that his Gracie loved him and was still a part of his life each time he saw it.

Eleven weeks, three days and this morning later, he was spending another Saturday with his daughter at the beach, and cherishing every precious minute of it.

"You ready, Monkey?"

"Yeah, let's go get 'em," Grace laughed and jumped up from behind the sand dune, battle cry already screaming out as she and Danny charged the bushes where Chin and Kono were hiding.

The ensuing water fight was manic, filled with screams and laughter, and a lot of fun.

"Uncle Steve! Uncle Steve!" Grace shouted, giggling as she ran to hide behind his six foot plus frame. Kono was chasing her, deliberately keeping her pace slow, but Grace squealed with laughter as Steve knelt down and shielded her when Kono open fired and blasted the SEAL with a jet of cold water squarely on his butt.

He stood up and twisted around frowning at the wet patch on the back of his board shorts. Grace fell about laughing at the look on his face.

"Oh, this means war, Kalakaua," he grinned, aimed his Super-soaker and fired. Kono ducked, blew a raspberry at Steve, which made Grace laugh even harder, and sprinted towards Danny. Steve ran after her.

"Grace, c'mon," Chin nodded and she scurried over to him, fist-bumping before they both circled around to ambush the other three, soaking them all in a surprise attack when they popped up from behind a clump of tall grass.

Within seconds, everyone was wet through, covered with sand, but smiling.

"Right, food!" Steve clapped his hands together, and he and Danny headed to the Camaro, now fixed and as good as new thanks to Steve, for the picnic supplies.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," Danny nodded rubbing at his chest. His sternum was still a little tender, but he was otherwise one hundred percent better. He looked up and smiled, the happy expression lighting up his eyes.

"You look it, Danno," Steve agreed. After _months_ of depression and stress, it was wonderful to see his partner finally happy again.

"I know I've said it before, but thank you," Danny murmured softly looking towards the beach where Grace was building a sandcastle with Kono. "Thank you."

Steve squeezed Danny's shoulder. "Anytime, partner."

Danny and Rachel had talked at length about what had happened over the past year. It hadn't been an easy conversation, but in the end, Rachel had told her ex-husband that she was sorry for suing him for full custody of their daughter and for the way she'd behaved. She'd realised how wrong she'd been in the way she'd overreacted to the whole kidnapping incident, and shortly after Danny had been discharged from the hospital, Rachel had had her lawyers revise the arrangement, and just like before, Danny had his daughter every second weekend and whatever holidays he and Rachel agreed to.

Knowing that Steve had been instrumental in Rachel's decision warmed Danny's heart, and he would forever be grateful to have a friend like Steve McGarrett, even if the man was annoying, insane, crazy... Danny wouldn't change him for the world.

Grabbing for the blanket, Danny playfully elbowed Steve out of the way with a huge grin. "You do know we won this first round, right?"

Steve hefted the cool boxes out of the car and glared at Danny. "You so did not!" he bleated. "I had you, hands down, Danno!"

With an exaggerated look to the huge wet patch on the back of Steve's board shorts, Danny just shook his head and chuckled. "No way, Commander Wet Ass. Team Williams all the way," he grinned widely showing off his own mostly dry shorts. It didn't escape Steve's notice that Danny's T-shirt was soaked through and covered with sand though.

They locked the Camaro and made their way back to the beach, sharing the load between them.

"Rematch after lunch then?" Steve asked.

"You're on," Danny smiled back.

**H-5-0**

When Steve had read Danny's report about what had happened while he was missing, the SEAL still had at least a dozen questions... mostly, to Danny's dismay, about how the hell did the Jersey Slip work, and just who did he 'borrow' the pickup truck from?

"_Seriously, Danny, a bong?"_

"_Yes, Steven. A bong."_

And no matter how many times Steve had asked, no, Danny wasn't going to reveal just how he slipped out of a pair of metal handcuffs.

"_Trade secret, babe."_

Danny had laughed at Steve's pout for a good ten minutes.

They never did catch up with the surfer dude owner of the pickup truck that reeked of pakalolo, which was a shame because Danny didn't want to arrest him for the possession of illegal substances and a bong, he really wanted to thank the guy for letting him borrow his truck, and apologise for wrecking it.

He did, however, blow a gasket when he found out about the message carved on Alison Du Pont's body – by her own hand with a fucking scalpel! – and, as predicted, had laid into Steve for keeping that information from him. Steve, for his part, had valiantly refrained from smiling throughout the entire rant, even though, after missing Danny's entertaining tirades for so long, all he wanted to do was grin at him.

Everything was back to the way it should be, with the daily displays of attitude, malasada crumbs everywhere, rants, rants and even more rants, and impassioned carguments about the way Steve drove his beloved Camaro, and the team dynamic had healed like the last year hadn't driven a wedge between them.

The cases had steadily streamed in and were solved with their usual hard work and flare, and Danny and Steve quite often spent the evening drinking Longboards on Steve's private beach after a hard day's chasing perps around Oahu.

They talked more, and both made more of an effort to open up if something was bothering them, and Danny never again felt the need to drown his pain in a bottle of whiskey. And on the weekends he had Grace, Danny would spend Saturday afternoons at Steve's just like old times, much to the man's absolute delight.

Life, once again was good. Danny was happy... as long as he had his daughter and his ohana around him, Danny was happy.

Happy.

**H-5-0**

The early morning sun warmed Danny's skin as he ran steadily along the beach. It was nearly six AM, and the usual hardcore surfer dudes were already riding the rolling waves in the ocean. His running shoes kicked up the wet sand with each step, and the pleasant sensation of burning in his muscles warmed his thighs as he pounded through the surf.

He let his mind empty and concentrated on the rhythmic pace of one foot in front of the other, breathing the salty warm air deep into his lungs, enjoying the healthy way his body felt after more than a year of struggling. There was no mantra this time, he didn't need to do that anymore, and he smiled happily wiping the sweat from his brow.

His peaceful run was suddenly interrupted when another figure appeared beside him, keeping up with his steady pace with annoying ease.

"'Morning, Danno," Steve grinned, his sunglasses reflecting Danny's frown back at him.

"What the hell are you doing here, huh?"

"Thought I'd join you. Running's a great way to keep in shape."

Rolling his eyes, Danny waved a hand, "Didn't you, like, swim to Maui and back this morning?"

"Maui is about a two hundred mile round trip, Danny," Steve pointed out shaking his head. Danny wasn't swayed. This was SuperSEAL he was talking about.

"And?"

"No, I decided to run this morning instead, okay?"

"Huh," Danny said wiping his brow again. "And you decided to what, drive all the way here just to run this particular beach?" He knew ever since Steve had found out that he regularly jogged, it would be only a matter of time until the goof pushed himself into Danny's routine. Like Danny could ever have anything of his own... yeah right!

He was amazed it had taken Steve this long!

"I was passing through," Steve smiled. His Navy vest flapped in the ocean breeze as he turned and jogged backwards for a moment to look at Danny. "You don't mind me joining you, do you?"

"S'free country," Danny answered with an easy shrug. Steve turned again and moved a little closer, leaving footprints in the sand behind them that nearly overlapped.

"So, you wanna race?"

"Do I wanna race? What are you, twelve?" Danny blinked in disbelief, although he should've expected it. "No, I do not want to race, Steven! You go. Race yourself, okay!"

They ran for another minute before Steve grinned at him, smirking as his eyebrows waggled. Danny chuckled and shook his head. He wasn't going to race. He really wasn't...

But when Steve's pace increased, Danny suddenly grinned back and raced right past him, shouting, "Loser buy's the pizzas!"

"You'd better have your wallet, Danno!" Steve yelled back, and with a huge smile speeded up.

They both won.

**~Fini~**

2013 BryceWhite

_Disclaimer-don't own the guys, much to my dismay, don't own 5-0 either, no money made etc. It's a cruel world indeed._


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